Change it up

So a few changes that have taken place lately....I am a blonde again...It feels good to change things up once and a while...I am used to being a blonde so much that it didn't take long for me to get used to it....Kylie told me that I looked creepy and handsome...should I take that as a compliment? but Connor told me that he liked me like that a lot better because I look more like him now...funny what kids say. Anyways Me and Chelton are working hard at getting ready for our cruise. We have been dieting and exercising like crazy. We have been in it for about 4 weeks now and I am happy to report I have lost almost 8 pounds and Chelton has lost like a bizillion (well it seems like it to me---it's like 20 or something like that). We both have our goals we have to meet by January and we feel good about how we have been doing so far. When you do good and see results it makes you only want to do better!!! Just can't wait for our vacation!!!

Other than that not a whole lot has been going on here. Garrett is going to be starting flag football (can you imagine all 40 pounds of him breaking out there?) and Connor is back in karate. Kylie is just being Kylie and being bored without her brothers home now that school is in.

If I had a camera battery I would post a pic of my new haircut but even on a good day I don't take a good picture so I probably won't.

End of summer

We have been trying to cram a lot of things in the last little bit before school started and sadly the camera battery died again in my camera so I didn't get pictures of any of it but wanted to at least document that we did do something fun. A few weekends ago we went up north to go car shopping. We have desparately needed a bigger car. Trying to cram three kids and their car seats in a small car is not working so we ended up buying a black Yukon and have loved it so far. We also liked spending the weekend with my mom and dad and got to celebrate Chelton's brother Cam's 30th birthday while we where there.

Then the next weekend me and the kids went back up to stay at my mom's house for the weekend. My brother and sister-in-law Dave and Alyssa blessed their baby Sam so we got to go spend some time visiting them.



This picture is from when Sam was in the hospital and of course he has grown triple in size. He is so darling. The kids had so much fun visiting with their cousins and their uncle Dave bought one of those blow up water slides so they also had a ball getting wet and going down the slide. It is always a good time visiting with family on special occasions and eating their good food!!!

We also took a short day trip up north and took the kids to the zoo....again I had no camera but it was a hot but fun trip. The kids loved it (all but Kylie and those dinosaurs....she hated those)...it was fun to do something different and we haven't been to the zoo in a while.

The weekend after that Chelton's family (His mom and dad, his brother's Khayden and Taylor, his sister Meridee and her husband Kasey and their kids Addie and Jackson and Khayden's dog Baxter) came and stayed at our house for the weekend. It was really a lot of fun. On Friday night we played some Minute to Win it games and had some yummy food. It was fun hanging out and relaxing and visiting with each other. We don't get to see them very often. My kids loved sleeping out on the trampoline with uncle Taylor and I was suprised that all three of them stayed out there all night too.

On Saturday we drove 30 miles to Yuba Lake. We took my in-law's wave runners and found the perfect beach spot and enjoyed a day of riding wave-runners and just playing at the beach. The kids had a ball. The water was so high that the kids could go out a ways in the water and it was still shallow so it was a lot of fun. Plus we did get all three of my kids out on the waverunners (which is a first because they are usually too scared for that). Sadly towards the end of the day the battery died on one of the waverunners and we had to tow it to the dock thus ending the day of waverunning but we were pretty much done for the day anyway. Here is a picture of Yuba Lake, again I didn't take it but found it on the internet...wished I would have had my camera there though.



That night we had some more yummy food. Everyone went home besides Meridee and Kasey who stayed until the next morning. All and all it was a really fun weekend and I hope we can make it a yearly thing and all of the family can come.

Three days after that weekend school started for my kids. Hard to get in the routine but they had no choice. Connor started 1st grade this year. He has Mrs. Beckstrand who we have loved so far. He is a little bored because he is so advanced but we have just given him a little advanced work when he gets home from school. Garrett is in 4th grade and has Mrs. Sheriff who we also love. He was placed in a research class this year doing a Spaulding class. I think this will be wonderful for him. He has already done well in the first three days....already 100% improvement from his teacher last year. I just can't believe school has started already. Where did the time go.

We still have another trip up north next weekend we have to plan and a short camping trip in a few weekends that we have to cram in there...and the best news.....we have scheduled a cruise in January to the Caribbeans...Ever since we got married our goal was to go on a cruise on our 10 year anniversary. Well last year our 10 year anniversary came and went. Chelton was in the police academy and with him switching jobs and in school we were in no position to go. Well this year we are going on our 10 year anniversary for our 11 year anniversary. We got the cruise booked and are porting out of Galveston, Texas (are driving down there)....we are going on a 7 day cruise and make stops in Falmouth Jamaica, Cozumel Mexico and George, Town Grand Cayman. We are going on Royal Caribbean cruise line. The ship has an ice rink, rock climbing wall, mini-golf course, golf simulator and all sorts of fun stuff. We are extremely excited. To go along with our cruise we have set goals to get in shape and lose some weight. We have both been exercising every single day and been on a strict calorie diet. So far it is working great too.

All and all it has been a fun summer. The kids have spent hours playing by the creek at hour house, playing with friends, getting shaved ice at the video store by our house, going to the library, jumping on the tramp, running through the sprinklers, having water fights with neighbors and just being kids. Hard to see the summer go but always glad to see school start and a new routine begin.

My Diva

So I wanted to do a little post on Kylie...She has been such a little diva lately...and such a girlie girl but also so much like her brothers. She is sooo into girl things running around in tutus such as below



and then naming off every pokemon and mario character there is (like her brothers) and will boss her boys around to no end. I guess that means she is well balanced? I hope so. She will be playing in her kitchen, with her dolls and every other major major girly thing there is. She loves me to do her hair and paint her nails and watches barbie and every princess movie there is and then loves everything the boys do. She is so funny.

She has naturally curly hair...I cut it the other day because she had this extra long piece and now the bottom layer is curly and she has this straight part on top....drives me crazy....wondering if I should perm it (which I know would hold great)...or just leave it and let it be....I did try to straighten it the other day and she looked darling but it only looked that cute until about half way through church and then by the end the curliness started creeping back in. I have major straight hair and Chelton has curly hair...she must have gotten both.



And finally she loves to wear skirts and dresses. She would wear a skirt or dress every single day. She will wear a skirt over every single thing she wears. Here last of all is her in one of her skirts striking a pose. What would we do without Kylie and her emotional rollercoasters in our life? I added a tiara to her just to get the full diva that is Kylie....but we sure do love her...

Fabulous Fourth Weekend

My mom and dad came down for the 4th of July weekend and we had such a good time. We were planning on going fishing Saturday so on Friday night we had to round up some worms. So my dad and Chelton and the kids got out the flashlights and started digging around the yard and actually we ended up catching like 20 to 30 worms. Garrett was the only one who actually touched a worm out of the kids but it was fun to watch them.

Garrett and Grandpa looking for worms



Check out this long worm



Kylie just had fun holding the flashlight...she won't even touch an ant let alone a worm



On Saturday we headed out to Tushar lake just outside of Beaver. I didn't fish but of course my mom caught the first fish but after that my dad was the only one to catch any fish after that. He caught about five fish. Chelton got one bite but nothing else and none of the kids got a thing (but of course you have to leave your pole in the water long enough to get a bite).

Kylie's fishing didn't last long because she freaked out every time a fly came by her...this girl is really freaked out by bugs



Garrett had to reel in his fishing pole every 2 minutes and make sure his worm was still on his hook (doesn't every kid do that?--I think the real fun is reeling and throwing out your line)



Chelton and Connor getting ready for their first cast out



Kylie's pole has a green fish hooked on it so every time she catches a green fish...last year she would get excited every time thinking she caught a fish...this year she knew better...kind of sad when they outgrow things like that....



This was the first catch of the day by my mom but my dad let it go before I could get a picture of it.



We came home and sat in the backyard and could watch people doing some pretty good fireworks from there.

On Sunday we decided to go for a ride. There is a drive up a canyon that takes you from Fillmore to Richfield. It is only about 30 miles and we have always wanted to try it. Well 30 miles and about 3 hours later we got through to the end. It was a gorgeous ride but it got very steep and pretty crazy in some spots. Maybe we will leave it to the 4-wheelers next time. Then at the end of the ride the gate was closed. There was no way we were heading back. There was room on the side of the gate...of course my dad's jeep would fit fine but a bit of a squeeze for our truck and a little bit of a cliff on the side....of course we tried it and we did fit with only a rock keeping us from sliding down the hill....The scary things we do...the kids would have DIED if we had to go back though but we made it and I only had a mild heart attack.

This is one of the pictures I took on our ride. I tried to get more but again my camera died. (My camera batteries do not last long and I can't find a rechargeable one....Need to check into that better. I probably won't be blogging any new pics soon until I can get a new battery)



Saturday night Garrett and Connor slept out on the tramp with my dad....besides the fact that Garrett talked in his sleep all night and rolled over onto Connor...they had a pretty successful night. My dad actually slept out there two and a half nights...only a half a night the third night because we forgot to turn off the sprinklers and he got woken up by that and came in...(sorry)...

On Monday (the 4th)....Chelton, me and the kids went to the parade...which was great...it was nice and overcast and we walked down right before and got great seats. We could walk from our house. We didn't really feel like going over to the park so we just came back home and spent all day watching episode after episode of Cake Boss (my favorite show). I think I got my parents hooked on it now too. Chelton had to work Monday night but me and the kids and my parents went to the fireworks and I honestly think Fillmore had the best fireworks that I have ever been to. They went on for about 30 minutes. They were wonderful. Connor kept whining about when they were going to start and then he kept whining because he was tired about when they were going to get over (they were that long). I can't wait to see them again next year.

All and all we had a great weekend. It was so much fun to have my mom and dad come and visit. We don't get too many of them down here so it is always fun to have them come.

Yellow belt

So right before karate classes ended for the summer Connor was able to go up from his white belt to his yellow belt. He has only been taking karate classes for a couple months and is the youngest kid in his class by at least two years so it is pretty cool for him. He loves being in karate and does a really good job in there. He really has an amazing memory and it transfers over to karate. It is good too because karate gets to be "his" thing that he does. He kept worrying that he wasn't going to get it but we all knew he would because he is good and he knows everything and he did an excellent job today. He has really great teachers too. They did a little sparring at the end of class and it is so funny to watch little Connor out there because like I said he is the youngest in his class by like two years and he is extremely short for his age anyway so he looks like a shrimp when they spar....but he can spar with the best of them. We are so proud of him and that he loves it and sticks with it....

Jumpin High

So a few months ago we inherited a trampoline from my in-laws (thank you so much for hours and hours and hours of entertainment and exercise for my kids Grandma and Grandpa Spendlove)....We have a great backyard for a trampoline and the kids have definitely taken advantage of it. Kylie never liked trampolines but has gotten a lot more daring on it too. She will actually get on it now and will let the boys jump on it if they hold her and if nobody else is on there she will jump to her heart's content. The boys are getting really good doing flips and they have jumped with the sprinkler's on...that was fun to watch with water coming in from all sides. The tramp really has been a ball for them and gotten them outside a lot more. We all love it!!!

These are a few pictures I took of the kids jumping on the tramp with the sprinklers on.







This is Kylie getting the water gun thinking she was going to get the boys wet....little did she know they were already soaking wet from the sprinklers...but it was a good thought...

Doing some exploring

So my parents are coming down in a few weeks and we want to do some fishing so we wanted to go for a ride last weekend to take a look at some nearby lakes and also to do some exploring at some of the cool sites around Fillmore. My parents used to take us all on rides when I was little...I have to admit I was not one that liked to be in the car all day. I used to get car sick...I ended up sitting next to the stinky brother who bothered me and I just wanted to get there and with my parents we never got there...the ride was there.....but now I am totally like my parents....I just want to hop in the car and drive around and spend all day driving and seeing cool things and now I am the one torturing my kids, especially my middle child Connor....he absolutely HATES it and complains the loudest. It is kind of fun and I guess it is payback for the rides I HAD to go on.....We really did do some pretty cool stuff so I don't know why I didn't like it when I was younger but I do now.

So on to our ride....we saw the name of this river and thought we for sure could find it...well we didn't but instead we found the Fremont Indian State Park museum. On a whim we decided to stop there and it was pretty cool. They had a movie we watched and some displays we looked at. The coolest thing were the petroglyphs on the mountains that you could see. They had anywhere from half mile up to 5 miles of hiking to see them. Well we weren't really dressed for the walk (I wore the wrong shoes for that so we will have to go back on another day because they had a cool cave you could hike to). Garrett really wanted to hike to more stuff. We had to get the kids picture by the teepee with the mountain in the background that had the petroglyphs on it and Connor was hot and in a bad mood as you can tell in the picture.



Well since the river was a bust we decided to head over to a lake by Delta and then get dinner in Delta. We drove by the lake and well we could see the lake but there was no access to get to the lake...it certainly didn't seem like a lake that anybody actually fished at or actually used...maybe but we couldn't find a way to get to it...the road just circled by it without getting to it...at that point the kids were so hungry and done with being in the car so we headed to the big city of Delta (ha ha ha)...I had never been to Delta....after living in Fillmore I was actually expecting it to be a lot bigger but I must say I really like living in Fillmore...(it is always Delta versus Fillmore--They don't have that much more stuff than us). We got some food and went to a park to eat. The kids had a ball playing at the playground. Kylie is usually a wimp at the park but she is really starting to get a lot braver now. They had three slides...and by the time we left she went on the biggest tunnel slide there all by herself. After that we headed home. We have since found out from friends in Fillmore where the best fishing sites are...no more guessing for us...but it was a fun ride and some fun finds.

This is the first time she went down the "baby" slide...kind of looks terrified



Monkey man



Connor was always there to make sure he was there to catch Kylie



Connor must have went on the slide 100 times



I made Garrett hold this pose while I took the picture and I think he was really sore afterwards