September

Happy Anniversary to us!  We celebrated our 15th anniversary with a weekend trip to  Salt Lake and Park City.  Rory spoiled me and bought me a new living room set, and Friday night we got to meet my good friend Heather and her husband Craig for dinner.  After dinner Rory and I went to a movie and pigged out on Coldstone ice cream.  Saturday we headed to Midway and checked into our hotel, the  Zermatt.  It is in an absolutely beautiful location and we had fun checking out the sights around Midway/Heber and doing a little shopping.  We then headed up to Park City and ate dinner at this amazing little cafe up the canyon.  After dinner we went to the Josh Turner concert at Deer Valley and froze our tooshies off!  It was such an amazing weekend and a much needed getaway with my sweetheart.

Kinlee continued soccer through the month and decided she doesn't really like it, but is glad she tried it.  She also participated in the Little Miss Dino pageant put on through the high school drill team and did amazing!  She sang "Little do You Know" and ended up taking 1st attendant! She loved it, but mostly because she got to hang out with Zac's girlfriend Riley, who is on the drill team.

Kadee is adjusting well to middle school and has joined the science club and FCCLA.  She is so excited to do science fair and has made some new friends.

Connor has been working on scouts and played a little baseball in September.  For his scout service project he collected food for a local organization called "Carbon Caring for Kids."  They make food packages for less fortunate kids to take home on the weekend to make sure they are getting enough to eat.  After he collected the food we went and put kits together for the weekly delivery.  It was a great service project and the kids are learning to love service.

Matthew is doing so well with his speech.  He loves Kindergarten and playing with his friends who live right next door to grandma Debbie.  He is starting to read and his teacher said she is super impressed with how well he does in math.  She said he listens well and has the best smile!

I had to post a picture of our spoiled little kitten. The kids adore him and he pretty much gets held and cuddled constantly. 

August

August was such a fun month! We were super busy cramming the last of summer in.  We started out the month with a trip to the living planet aquarium with the Rising Raptors (a summer camp at the the elementary school that Matthew and Kinlee did).  The next Sunday Rory blessed his cousin Brooke's baby at church.  He did an amazing job and Kinlee was ecstatic to have a baby to play with all through church.  We went to my first ever demolition derby.  It was the Carbon County Search and Rescue demolition derby and it was so awesome!  I wasn't sure how I would feel about it, but it was actually pretty exciting and a lot of fun.

For Kinlee's 7th birthday we surprised her with the sweetest little kitten that she named Archer Kitty-meow-meow Bradley Cactus.  She was so excited and it is the cutest thing, the kitten sleeps with her every night and although it's killing my allergies it's worth it because she is so happy.  Nana had her annual grandkid swim party at the Castle Dale pool on Kinlee's birthday, so that was a lot of fun.  The only downfall is the weather was bad, so we were stuck in the indoor pool the whole time.  The next day we had Kinlee's birthday party at the Helper Pool.  She had some of her friends come swim with her and we had cupcakes, push up ice creams, soda, and rock candy suckers.  That night we had chocolate chip pancakes (at her request) and homemade asphalt pie.

The weekend before school started we went up to Layton and stayed a couple days with Rory's cousin Shane and his family.  We went to Cherry Hill and the kids just loved hanging out with their cousins.  Monday we went to antelope island to watch the solar eclipse and it was astounding.  Not only did we get to watch the eclipse, but we got to check out a ranch out there and saw tons of bison and a fox.  The kids had never been to the great Salt Lake so it was fun to take them and to drive on the causeway.

The last full week in August school started.  The kids were excited to go back, but Kadee was so nervous to start middle school.  Needless to say, she has adapted well and now loves it.  She is already planning her science fair project and has made some new friends.  Exactly a week into school Kinlee was playing on the mushroom, a piece of playground equipment that is like monkey bars that spin in circles, and she fell off and broke her right arm in 2 places.  We took her right in and had x-rays and had it splinted and the doctor was able to squeeze her in to cast it the next day.  She is in a cast for the next 6 weeks and is learning how to do things with her left hand and has learned a valuable lesson about safety on the playground. :)

July

I know I say this every year, but summer has flown by!  I can't believe July is over and school starts back up in a couple weeks.

We were lucky enough to spend the 4th of July barbecuing with Rory's family and then watching the fireworks at his cousin Eric's house.  Their backyard faces the Fairgrounds so we get an awesome view of the fireworks every year without the crazy people and traffic.

Connor is officially a teenager!!  We spent his birthday doing his favorite thing in the world, camping up Ferron reservoir.  We tried to spoil him with delicious food, an outdoor movie, campfire stories, sleeping in hammocks, four wheeler rides, and time with cousins.  He is such a good kid and I can't believe he will be driving in 3 short years!  A week after the camping trip he had a friend birthday party in which they watched an outdoor movie in the backyard and played basketball.  I'm so proud of the young man he is turning into and can't wait to see what this life has in store for him.  

Kadee went to Idaho with Rory for a training, she had such a good time with her daddy, but ended up with Swimmer's Itch so they had to come home a day early.  She went swimming in a pond near the hotel and the doctor thinks that is where she picked it up.  Kadee also decided she was sick of her long hair and cut it off to her shoulders.  It is super cute on her and the poor thing has my thick, curly hair, so it's a lot more manageable short.  She also decorated her bike and rode it in the Wellington parade with her friends.  Rory and I were over the parade again this year, I think it turned out really good, and we got a ton of compliments on how organized it was.

Kinlee and Matthew did swim lessons.  Kinlee loved the diving board and now is a professional diver.  Okay, maybe not a pro, but she loves it and now wherever we go swimming we can't keep her off the diving boards.  Matthew is a little fish too, but is a little more timid in the water than my other kids.  He starts Kindergarten in a month so I have been trying to teach him how to tie his shoes, it has been a struggle but I think we are making progress. I took this pcture of him crashed out in my bed because he plays so hard all day, every day.  By the time we get him to lay down for 5 seconds he is out, luckily he is still little enough to carry to his bed.   

Kinlee & Edith at the Clark Reunion

June

June has been nothing but a blur of baseball.   Connor made the Carbon All-Star 12u team so we've spent our weeks practicing and our weekends playing baseball.  We started out the month with a tournament in Richfield and it was hot, hot, hot!  The boys made it to the championship game and ended up taking 2nd in the tournament.  They each got a ring for making it that far in the tournament.  We also had a tournament in Nephi.  I'd never been to Nephi before and it is a cute little town.  The team didn't do as well here and ended up finishing 4th. Finally we had the All-Star week long tournament.  It was a fun and exhausting week.  We played several games and didn't make it to the championship but I couldn't be more proud of the team and how hard they worked.  They never gave up, supported each other, and made some lasting friendships.

I can't forget to mention my other 3 munchkins.  They are such troopers, they go to every game with me and for the most part are so good while we are at the ball fields for hours on end.  I didn't get many pictures, but I love every minute sitting with those crazies watching my boy play ball.    

San Diego

We just got back from one of my favorite family vacations!  We spent the week in San Diego and it was absolutely fabulous!  Since I don't know where to begin, I'm going to break it down day by day so hopefully I don't forget anything.

Sunday, May 28- We arrived in Vegas early Sunday afternoon so we checked out the pool at the Lucky Dragon Hotel where we were staying and then walked down the Vegas Strip, we didn't make it very far down the strip, the kids were hot and starving so we found a McDonald's then went to the  Pawn Stars shop further on down the strip.  I was so excited to go there, but when we got there the security guard was super rude :(  I was going to buy a souvenir or something, but after the way he treated us I refused to buy anything. 

Monday, May 29- We arrived at our hotel on Mission bay early afternoon.  We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and playing in the sand.  That evening they had a little cruise boat that takes you for a ride across the bay.  It was really cold but the views were beautiful and the kids loved sitting on the lower deck.  Our room was a mini suite and it was really nice, the view on our balcony was beautiful and the kids loved eating breakfast on the balcony in the mornings. 

















Tuesday, May 30-  We started out the day by walking to Mission beach.  There are so many shops and a really nice board walk all along the beach.  We played in the sand for awhile, collected sea shells, and of course the kids thought the outside showers were awesome so we washed off in them.  We then went and visited the beautiful San Diego temple and then played on the beach at La Jolla.  The tide was perfect and the sea lions were beached on the rocks right next to us.  One fell in after a big wave pushed him off, so he swam right by us and watched us like we were crazy (which we probably are!).  Finally we spent the evening at Belmont Park.  We got ice cream and cotton candy, rode a few rides, played in the arcade, and Rory, Connor, Matthew, and Kinlee played laser tag.  Matthew and Kinlee ended up winning because they would just follow Rory and Connor around and shoot them over and over again. 

Wed, May 31- We had a fun morning at the Mormon Battalion, we learned a little about the history of San Diego and the war that was going on with Mexico at the time.  We then walked through Old Town San Diego and checked out the shops and old town stores.  We wanted to try and go to a Padres game, so we went to down town San Diego, but there was so much construction and it was so crazy we decided to not even attempt the baseball game, good thing we hadn't bought the tickets yet.  Since we didn't have anything to do we went and checked out Balboa Park.  We walked through the park, but all the museums were super expensive, so the kids had a blast riding the free tram from the park to the parking lot, haha.  That evening we went on a tandem bike ride along Mission bay.  It was so fun and so pretty!  At the end of the walkway there was a playground for the kids to play on and it was so fun to see the houses right on the beach. 

Thurs, June 1- We went to the famous Donut Bar in downtown San Diego (they even gave me a free donut for my birthday!) then spent the day at Sea World.  We loved Sea World.  Connor's very favorite thing was the fish that eat the dead skin off your hands, that's all he wanted to do all day.  Kadee and Kinlee loved the Atlantis ride, and Matthew could have spent all day in the Elmo play area.  Mine and Rory's favorite thing was the sea lion & otter show and of course the kids loved getting splashed by the dolphins and orca's in the splash zone. 

We ended the trip with a 2 day stay at Lorla's house in St. George.  We were super lazy and hung by her pool all day.  The kids were fish and practically lived in the pool the whole time we were there.  It was a nice visit and a wonderful way to end our vacation. 

May

May is always a fun and busy month.  This May was no different.  We started out the month with the baseball parade and opening day, the same day I took Kadee and Kloe to the Ivy Girl Academy in South Jordan. While they learned about self confidence, self-defense, make up tips, and more, Kinlee and I went shopping and visited grandma and grandpa Curtis.   

Connor received his first class badge in scouts, he is well on his way to becoming an eagle scout and will be going on a 50 mile hike this summer. He also hit 2 home runs this month and the most exciting thing is he made the 12u Cal Ripken all-star team.  He loves baseball and is thrilled to get to play ball for the summer. 

Kadee had the pirate treasure hunt at the middle school,  it's a fun little activity they do to welcome in the kids that will be starting there in the fall.  They give them a treasure map of the school and the kids go around and get treasures while becoming familiar with the school.  She also had the 5th grade field trip to the bees game, Rory and I got to go with her and it was hot but so fun.  This girl works so hard in school and in life and had her DARE graduation and 5th grade send off.  I can't believe how fast time flies.  The teachers made a slide show of the 5th graders as babies and now and I got a little teary eyed.  I can't believe I'm going to have 2 kids in middle school.  She is super nervous to leave elementary school but is excited for some of her classes next year.  Kadee also passed the torch to the new historian and received an award for her reflections entry as well as several gift certificates for her attendance and effort she made on the SAGE test.   

Matthew graduated from preschool and had an end of year party at the wave pool.  He was so cute at his graduation and totally rocked Tooty Ta (his favorite preschool song of all time).  He loves baseball and did a really good job in coach pitch this year.  He is still a little afraid of the ball, so Connor has been working with him on catching the ball.  He is still doing Upstart (the online preschool) and will continue doing that until July, then he will be set and ready to go to Kindergarten.  He is such a little spit fire but loves life and always has a smile on his face.   

Kinlee and Kadee had their dance recital, welcome to my crazy circus.  It was such a fun show and the girls totally rocked it!  I was so proud of my little dancers, they smiled and did so well on all of their dances.  Kadee had 4 different dances that she performed and Kinlee had 3.  I love watching my kids develop their talents.  Kadee missed dance pictures because of the Hogle zoo field trip, but Kinlee went to hers and they turned out so cute! My favorite was a picture I took of her and Kaydree popping out of the popcorn box, little cuties!
 

April Showers Bring May Flowers....

 April happenings:  We started out the month with Matthew getting tubes put in his ears.  He's suffered with ear infections for awhile now, so they finally decided the best route would be to put tubes in his ears.  The nurse that prepped him was amazing, she helped him to feel comfortable and explained exactly what was going to happen.  He was only in the procedure for about a half hour, but when he came out he was a bear!  He's back to his normal self now and his speech is already improving. 

Kinlee had a duet with her best friend Kaydree and they did an amazing job!  They sang "That's why they call it country" and were seriously the stars of the show.  Kinlee is such a cute performer and sang her heart out.  She loves choir and I think she is starting to love dance, she is finally saying she's going to do dance next year (she's told me all year she isn't).   

Connor started Majors baseball.  His team is the Nationals and they are a good little ball team.  Connor hit a home run at their last game and was more than a little excited, as you can see in the picture.  He's so passionate about the sports he plays and I am so impressed with his hard work and dedication.   

Rory had to work in Moab Easter Weekend, so the kids and I hung out at home, but I tried to make it a fun weekend for them.  We went swimming, on an Easter Egg hunt, decorated pots and planted flours, colored eggs, and I made a huge Easter dinner.  Although the kids were sad we weren't camping I think they enjoyed the weekend.  Kadee and Kinlee were both sick and were on antibiotics all weekend but are recovered finally.  

This past weekend the girls danced at Carbon Dance Classic.  Their studios theme this year is Welcome to the Circus, so their costumes are all based around the theme.  They danced their hearts out and had a great time doing it.  Kinlee's poppin, poppin popcorn song placed best all around dance so she was pretty excited about that.  I helped coordinate the dancers and make sure they were where they needed to be and it was exhausting but so much fun.  I liked being behind the scenes and helping the show run more smoothly for our dance company. 

Finally,  our Utah Jazz are having a great season!  They made it to the play-offs (which hasn't happened in 5 years) so Rory and Connor got tickets to game 4 on Sunday night.  Needless to say they had an amazing time and to top it all off the Jazz won!