Favorites!!

Connor's favorite things at 8 year's old:
   Football
   Baseball
   Basketball
   The Wii
   A robot game they play at recess
   Reading
   Watching baby looney tunes on his tablet
   Riding his bike
   Scouts
   Playing with friends

Kadee's favorite things at 6 1/2 years old:
   Gymnastics
   Girl Scouts
   Piano
   Babysitter Club (although she is a little upset she doesn't get to watch real babies yet)
   Playing nurse (she wants to be a nurse when she grows up)
   Riding her bike
   Bossing Connor and Kinlee around :)
   Playing with friends

Our favorite Kinlee sayings:

   Cauco Bell (Taco Bell)
   Couco Milk (Chocolate Milk)
   Don't freak out!
   I promise, k?
   Cuckoo bear (an episode of Team Umizoomi)
   She sings, "rainin... pourin...happy birthday to you!"
 Her favorite things at 2 years old:
   Chocolate milk
   Blankie
   Baby and stroller
  Toy piggies
  Team Umizoomi (a show on TV)

I think it's crazy what a small world it is... Rory's cousin ran into a lady I know (her name is Trish), but haven't seen for at least 15 years, at Primary Children's Hospital yesterday.  She said to tell me hello, so I decided to look her up on Facebook.  It was so neat to see how her life has changed and that she has a daughter now and how her nieces and nephews have grown.  Her mom, Ann Martinez was my babysitter from the time I was born until I was in the 4th grade.  She was an amazing little mexican lady who I have so many fond memories of.  She passed away a few years ago and I think of her often.  Trish, her daughter, was always very kind to me and although she was an adult and I was a young child we became friends (at least from my perspective as a child).  Anyway, just yesterday I was thinking of Ann, picturing her standing at her stove and sitting in her chair and Dalaena (Rory's cousin) called to tell me she had ran into Trish.  I just don't think it's a coincidence, it was so great to see pictures of Ann and she will always have a very special place in my heart.

1st Day of School 2012

First day of 2nd grade... Connor's teacher is Mrs. Judd

First day of 1st grade... Kadence's teacher is Mrs. Montoya

First day of wishing she was old enough to go to school!  (The scripture bag is what she considered her backpack and I'm not sure why she had to take the sprinkler toy to school)

August is here and that means back to school time.  The kids were very excited to head back to school and Kadee is ecstatic because her teacher (Mrs. Montoya) was Rory's kindergarten teacher. She pretty much thinks that is the coolest thing ever!

I took on the awesome role of PTA President and have already been super busy, but it will be worth it and I'm so grateful I'm able to be at the school and get to know my kids teachers.  If you don't volunteer at your kids school, you should... statistics show that when parents are involved in their children's education, the children are more likely to:  earn better grades, score higher on tests, pass their classes, attend school regulary, have better social skills, show improved behavior, be more positive in their attitude toward school, complete homework assignments, graduate and continue their education.  So get out there are volunteer and have a fabulous school year :)

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet little Kinlee!  Kinlee completes our family and makes us laugh every day.  Her favorite song is Happy Birthday so it was very fitting for her today.  She also likes to sing It's Raining, It's Pouring, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider.  Kinlee's favorite books are David Gets in Trouble and No! David.  She loves to play with her big brother and sister, loves to color, loves horses and bubbles, and loves to be outside.  She is talking like crazy and some of our favorite words she says are:  Caco Bell (Taco Bell), Burta (Spongebob), Whatever Daddy, Cookie, anytime she sings a song (especially Happy Birthday cha cha cha), and when she reads us one of her David books.  She is such a joy to have in our family and we are so happy to celebrate her 2nd birthday with her!

How cute!

Say Cheese!

Opening Presents

Happy Birthday!

Her horse and her David book

Jimmer Jam

Last week we loaded up the camp trailer and drove our butts up to the Provo KOA to stay a few days while Connor went to Jimmer Jam.  If you haven't heard of Jimmer Jam, it's a 3 day basketball camp put on my Jimmer Ferdette and his WHOLE family.  The camp was in Lehi so it required a little bit of driving back and forth but it wasn't too bad.  Tuesday (the first day of camp) the girls and I went with Rory and Connor to Jimmer Jam to see what it was all about.  It was a pretty amazing experience for little Connor and very informative.  He learned a lot about basketball, but they also talked a lot about integrity and respect.  The girls only liked camp for about 5 minutes, so we jumped in the truck and found a park down the street to play at.  I count my blessings there was a park and I didn't have to stay at camp with the girls, it would have been just short of a nightmare.  That evening we headed to Salt Lake and met Wally, Kristene, and Drake at the Bee's game.  It was really fun, although I have no idea what happened in the game.  Every time I go to a baseball game I end up visiting and watching other people instead of the actual game.  We had really good seats, but half way through the game the kids (except Kinlee) headed over to the general admission seating to roll down the grassy hill.

The rest of the week is kind of a blur.  We really didn't do much, we went swimming and shopping and tried to relax.  I did make Rory sit at Sonic for what seemed like an eternity so I could get a yummy cherry coke and we may have jammed out in the car to some old school tunes to embarrass our kids.... I can't wait til they really get embarrassed, it's going to be fun ;)

Kadee and Kinlee waiting for Jimmer Jam to start

Jimmer Ferdette giving the kids some tips

Jimmer doing basketball drills with Connor's group

Connor and the Stephen's family at the Bee's Game

Feeding the ducks at our camp

  

Quick Update...

I haven't blogged for awhile so I thought I'd do a quick update of what we've been up to...

The end of July Connor had his 8th birthday party with a bunch of friends.  It was very low key.  We were going to do water games and run through the sprinkler's but it was over cast and a little rainy so the boys decided to play baseball and tackle football.  I thought I was going to have a heart attack watching them play football, those boys are rough!  Connor had a great time and was so happy to spend some time with friends.

Opening Presents

Kadee, Chantel, and Kinlee playing in the slip n slide at Connor's Party

Kadee and I had a girls night and tried some natural facials, they tasted so yummy that Kinlee kept trying to lick our faces!  All we could do was laugh at that little mess!  I know this isn't a flattering picture of me at all, but I had to post it for my little Kadee.






Last week Derek Favors, from the Utah Jazz, came to Price to do a little basketball clinic.  Debbie and I took my kids as well as Logan, Landon, Zac, and Devin.  They got to do drills with Favors, ask him questions, and get his autograph.  Of course they loved it and it got Connor really excited to go to Jimmer Jam.







Lastly, we decided to put our house on the market.  We've been back and forth on whether or not this is a good decision, but I decided if it's meant to be it will happen.  Rory really wants to build another house in Wellington, so we will see if we can find some land we like for a decent price.  Wish us luck!

Lounging in the backyard

Floats...

So the Wellington Pioneer Day parade is no Days of '47 parade, but we have fun regardless.  This year I had the joy, the privilege, of making not one, but two floats.  Yep, I'm that special, lol.  Rory is on city council and is over Wellington Rec. so Debbie and I made a ghetto float.  Seriously, we were so proud of that float until I saw what real floats look like!  Anyway, we did a pretty good job for having a $0 budget and 0 time.  After working on that float I helped with our ward float.  It turned out really good.  Joan Powell was in charge and she is really a go getter.  She added this huge spinning barrel on it that had pictures of all the businesses in Wellington.  It turned out super cute and both floats won ribbons in the parade.  Wellington Rec float won the Mayor's Choice award and Wellington 2nd Ward won Best Use of Theme.  Speaking of Wellington 2nd Ward, I was just made 2nd counselor in Young Women's.  I'm excited to be back in there since last time I was in the YW Presidency I was only in for about 9 months before I was released.  I think it will be a very rewarding experience although I'm going to miss being a teacher in the Primary so much.  I love singing (even though I'm not very good at it) so I always look forward to singing time.  I guess I will just have to sing my heart out in Young Women's. :)

Here are some pictures of our awesomely awesome floats:

Wellington Rec Float, back view

Wellington Rec float, side view

Connor, Zac, & Devin getting ready to ride in the parade

Wellington 2nd Ward Float

Another Float Picture....

I Like to Look for Rainbows...

Yesterday was a very special day for our little Connor, he was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He was baptized and confirmed by his dad and we had lots of people there to support him.  His cousin MyKella was baptized as well, so it was a fun experience for them to share together.  MyKella's grandpa, Mike Beagley gave a wonderful talk on baptism and Grandma Debbie gave an adorable talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost.  It was such a spiritual day and it was so intriguing to talk to Connor about his testimony and how he felt about his baptism.  He said he was nervous at first but felt so good and clean after.  We talked a lot about what it meant to get baptized and today Connor and MyKella got to sit on the stand with the bishopric.  They were very reverent and looked so little sitting up there by themselves.

Connor and Rory looking handsome in their suits

Ready to get baptized!

Rory, Connor, Kyle, and Kella

Connor and his boys- Kysen, Gavin, & Chet

Our Little Family

Kadee and Karissa

Kinlee eating ice cream with her besties- Kaydree & Lexie

Gavin, Chet, Connor, and Landon

Connor and Great Grandma Archie

After the baptism we had ice cream sundaes and visited with great family and friends.  We were supposed to enjoy our sundaes under the pavilion at the church, but we were blessed with some much needed rain so we ate in the multi purpose room instead.  It was a wonderful day that I hope Connor will carry with him the rest of his life.