Sandhollow Day 1

We had a chance to spend the entire of Spring Break out at Sand Hollow with our two of our favorite families.  The Schwendimans and the Connors.  We did this a few years ago and had a blast.  So we thought it was time to do it again.

One of the highlights for the kids were the massive holes that they dug in the dirt.  It was like the movie Holes, but with better working conditions.

They worked constantly on them. These are just the beginning pictures. I will post some of the finished product in another post.

This is perhaps one of my most favorite pictures, that I have ever taken.  I love the contrast of the sand and the sky, but I love the guy on the bike ast well. 

We spent the first afternoon riding.  Tyson has taken to driving like a champ and loves to be on the 4-wheeler.

Another one of my sweetie!  He loves to go riding with the kids and encourage them to do crazy things.

Taking a break from riding to hang with mom!

The girls love driving around in the Ranger. A few hours after this, Sam was driving and had Brooke and Alyssa and the little girls and they tipped it up on it's side.  Luckily no one got hurt.  Piper laughs about it all the time still.

Spent the afternoon hanging out on the beach, looking for shells and playing in the sand.

Some of them even got brave enough to dive in that freezing cold water!

Hmm!  I love this picture too!

 

Every night the sunsets were beautiful.  I love this one, because of the silhoutte of the flags against the sky.  So beautiful!

PTO Troublemakers

We might be in big trouble when he gets back after Spring Break. But it sure was fun!

He is my child

I wrote JD a love note tonight.  He's a pretty awesome kid and I need to remind him of that sometimes.  Anyway, I was sneaking it into his backpack so he will find it tomorrow at school, when I noticed how heavy his backpack was.  I opened it up and started to pull out books.  Book after book of wonderful, literature goodness!  There were 12 books to be exact.  Oh yes, he is my child!  Couldn't be prouder!

Superhero's

For the month of February, JD and Piper both won superhero of the month for their class!  So proud of my awesome kids!

Three Amigo's

 Don't let the cuteness fool you!

This is trouble in cute packaging!

Scout Friends

Lori, Kathy, April & Me!

What a great group of ladies.  I'm so sad to move to 8th ward and leave Lori and April behind.  We have been working on scouts together for the last 3 years and I have loved it.  These are some amazing ladies!

Photo Booth

 My sweet boys!  Going to miss these awesome kids so much!  I love this picture and will cherish it always!

 Tyson wanted me to do the photo booth so badly so I jumped in a picture!  So glad I did, because I love this! I need to make sure to put myself in photos with my kids more.  I surely do love them.

I want to pinch him!

Random Awesomeness

Weblo

I am so glad that JD was able to earn his Weblo before we left the ward!  He has worked hard to earn this award and now we are working on the Arrow of Light, which is almost done!  See Mr. Hamblin there, gosh I love that guy.  Roger is one of my all time favorite and between Alma Richey and Roger, they were able to help accomplish this worthwhile goal!

I am so proud of you JD and the awesome kid that you are!

A few more black and white

JD and Avery

This is Avery.  He is JD's best buddy!  It's been an amazing experience to watch these two grow up together.

Avery has a lot of problems.  I couldn't pronounce it, even if I could remember it.  Basically his chromosomes are out of wack.  His actual diagnosis is only shared by about 30 other people in the world.  His family was told that he would never walk or talk or lead any kind of a normal life.  What the doctors didn't count on was a very determined mother and an amazing family.

These two boys are such good friends. JD goes out of his way to say hi to Avery every time he sees him, whether it be at school or church.  He buys him special treats and remembers his birthday.  He took Avery under his wing at scouts and helped him, so that he could come and participate.  Avery loves him.  Most of the boys their age treat Avery with respect, but JD does more than that.  He loves Avery very much.

Our ward was recently split and it is heartbreaking to me to break up this dynamic duo. Amy and I are both heartbroken over this.  But JD and Avery will always be the best of friends. Avery sometimes forgets who people are, if he hasn't seen them for awhile.  But he never forgets JD. It's such an amazing thing to watch, this special relationship and I hop that it carries on for the rest of their lives.

Cubscouts

 Justin, Avery, Jake, Chase, Tyson

Tanner, Riley, Sam, Zarek, JD

Benjamin, Mathew, Nathan, KJ

Shaden, Jonathan, Joshua, Breckin

Kayden, Carsyn, Carter, Drayden, Bentley

Almost 3 years ago I was put into Cubsouts.  I cried for the entire first year of being in.  I kept asking Josh, "How can I get released?"  His answer was to not do my calling, which for anyone who knows me, knows that wasn't an option.  So I cried, and I went to Cubscouts every week.

Fast forward to today.  Tonight I had to tell my little scouts good-bye and it broke my heart.  Somewhere along the way, I learned to love Cubscouts.  I still don't know much about tying knots and starting fires, but boy, did we have fun!  I really did enjoy every moment of it.  From picking up trash, to learning how to recycle, making birdhouses and building Home Depot kits that never really stayed together.

I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father knows what we need in our lives, even if we don't know it, or want it.  I'm glad I had a chance to teach 22 boys how to be better little boys.  They will always hold a special place in my heart.  I had a chance to be the wolf leader to all but one of these boys.  That's a pretty cool!

I'm also so grateful to have had the chance to be in my with my own boys.  To see JD through to his Weblo and soon his Arrow of Light.  Tyson with all of his enthusiasm and his excitement.  I'm so grateful.  I can't even put into words how much these guys mean to me.

Horsin' Around

I am so glad that my kids get along *most* of the time!  They really are each others best friends!

Shooting

Josh got a new toy, so him and his dad took the kids out shooting today.  Looks like they had a great time!

My beautiful home

Just random pictures of this beautiful place that I live in.  

I love capturing the beauty by which I am surrounded. 

I love photography period. Capturing a moment in time, freezing it forever in a picture. 

That my friends is pure awesomeness!

Sweet Dreams

There is a song by the Dixie Chicks, that I would sing to my babies as I rocked them to sleep at night.  A dear friend, who sadly lost his son to circumstances beyond his control was the one who introduced it to me.  I still hum it to my babies sometimes at night, when they sleep and I look on their beautiful faces. 

Dragon tales and the "water is wide"

Pirate's sail and lost boys fly
Fish bite moonbeams every night
And I love you

Godspeed, little man
Sweet dreams, little man
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Sweet dreams

 The rocket racer's all tuckered out

Superman's in pajamas on the couch

Goodnight moon, will find the mouse

And I love you

Godspeed, little man

Sweet dreams, little man

Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings

Godspeed

Sweet dreams

God bless mommy and match box cars
God bless dad and thanks for the stars
God hears "Amen," wherever we are
And I love you

Godspeed, little man
Sweet dreams, little man
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Godspeed
Godspeed
Sweet dreams

Bobcat, Religious Knot and Cubscouts

 I am so blessed to be a den leader in Cub Scouts.  Especially to my own boys.  I have been in scouts for almost three (yes, count them l, l, l) years!  I started out with JD and now I have Tyson.  Last night he got his Bobcat.

 My favorite part of earning a badge.  The huggin' and kissin' your mom part!  So glad my boys aren't afraid to hug and kiss me in front of their friends.

 Shaking hands with dad!

 Awww, that was my original boys.  The ones who watched me struggle and cry for the first year of that calling! And I honestly did cry and whine for the first year.   I can't believe they are going to be Weblos in a few short months.

 JD earned his Religious Knot!  So proud of him and how much he enjoys scouts and how hard he works at it.

 This picture warms my heart.  Avery is such a sweet little guy and JD is his best friend.  Avery has a lot of problems.  He has a rare genetic disorder and was adopted by some of our good friends.  They told them that he would probably never walk or talk or have any kind of a normal life.  Well, miracles do happen!  He is such a sweet kid, but he's a hard kid too.  JD loves him so much and helps him with scouts and at school in every way he can.  JD has an amazing sense of empathy and compassion.  He's an old soul in an 11 year old body. He's an amazing kid, so I can only imagine how amazing he's going to be as a man.

This picture makes me laugh.  Those are my current cutie pies.  They drive me to distraction, but they are so much fun and I love them all!

Tyson loved the Minute to Win It games!  Such a fun night!

Super Star Day

Piper got to be the Super Hero at school today!  It was so much fun to go into the class and share a little bit about Miss Piper.  We had the kids make a snowflake craft and ate a cupcake with them.  It was a lot of fun.  I absolutely love being in the school all of the time, but I LOVE being in my kids classroom!  She's so blessed to have some awesome friends in her class and a fantastic teacher who I love!  The funnest part was when they all broke into an impromptu jam session of Call Me Maybe!  So, so cute!