Still here

We are still here. We've been busy, but mostly we've had LOTS of computer issues. (UGH) I just haven't had the patience to wait for this slow computer to upload photos and such. :)

We are having a great summer so far. The kids are doing great in swimming lessons. Hopefully this is the last year for O and G. O is still in gymnastics and LOVING it. G has been doing a basketball camp. So cute to watch him try so hard. I love seeing him get better and having fun! We took a little day trip to Sedona to hike around for a while with Danny and Julee and their ADORABLE little girls. Tons of fun--pics to come if I can get this computer to start behaving itself. We also got to visit with family at our nieces birthday party in Anthem. It is always so fun to see family. We are lucky Julee and Danny are such fun party planners and can get us together!!!!

I was most sad about our computer last week for Father's day. I had a father's day blog all planned out, and it just wasn't happening, but I do want to say I'm so grateful to Ryan. He's the best hubby and Dada ever! I could spend all night listing why, but Seth sleeps in our office and I think I'm starting to wake him up so I'll be brief....Here are some random reasons Ryan rocks as the Daddy around here....
-He is forever patient with me and the kids...(just don't touch his glasses...lol)
-He loves to do fun stuff together as a family and is REALLY good at planning vacations
-He is a great example to all of us
-He lets me vent when I need to....anyone who knows me knows that doesn't happen too much, but he knows better. :) lol
-He plays with the kids
-He tells the most creative/educational stories. A typical car ride might include topics on volts vs. amps, the viscosity of stuff, electricity...more specifically how not to WASTE electricity etc.
-He takes me to the temple
-He tells jokes and fixes stuff (inside joke just for Ryan hee hee)
Anyway, thanks for everything Sweets, I love you!!

Vacation

Last week we went on vacation. It was WONDERFUL to escape with the family and get away from everything for a few days. HUGE thanks to Ryans mom and dad for coming with us. They ended up being SO MUCH HELP. I don't know if we could have done it with out them, plus hurray for fun company to enjoy it with!!!

We left Monday morning and drove and drove and drove.....etc Tuesday we went to the Sequoia National Park. We went on some hikes and saw some awesomely HUGE TREES! We even got to see a tiny baby bear and then its mom came out too. That was so cool to see. They weren't even that far away and no fences between us like a zoo. Just us and the bears. (A little scary too, but mostly just awesome:) Wednesday and Thursday we went to Yosemite National Park. This was amazing as well. We went on hikes again and saw more awesomeness. The kiddos were so great on the hikes. The next day when all of us grown ups were SO SORE the kiddos were bouncing around same as always. That made me feel really old because I was definitely NOT bouncing around. lol So fun to get away, so NOT FUN to do the laundry aftermath, but totally worth it.
Heres some (many many pics) of our fun...

Next up....NEW YORK!!!!

Happy Birthday Seth!

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy! I can't believe he's one! Seth is growing up so fast. He is walking across the room pretty good now, but will still crawl when he's in a hurry. He can say a few words and LOVES peek-a-boo, and monkeys swinging in the tree, and sunbeam and can do the actions to them too. We love having our little Seth man he brings so much joy to our home.

No more school, no more patch

I'm a little late but...

We are SO HAPPY to have summer break here. Here are the top reasons why...
1. More time to chill with the kiddos
2. Swimming!
3. Grant can now take a break from his patch for a while. We'll see how it goes. He was such a good sport to wear one for 6 WEEKS and he didn't complain once, however I could tell they were VERY PAINFUL to take off.
4. No more piles of sand from wherever the kiddos decide to take their shoes off!!!!!!! (I'm THRILLED WITH THIS!!!!)
5. VACATIONS!!! - more to come on those later.
Last day of patch bliss

Last day of school

Busy...

We've been busy these past weeks. I thought I'd just post the pics of everything for the grandmas in one slide show to save time. (Ambitious eh?)
I took a bunch of pictures of Seth just to document that at one time during his almost year of life he was CLEAN. Freshly bathed, hair combed, clean clothes...it doesn't last. lol He is taking 3+ steps at a time, walking will be here soon.
Olivia had her last honor choir concert of the year. It was a great show, they even did a song with three-part harmony. LOVE IT!!!!
Grant and Isaac had there belt ceremony and now are officially GREEN BELTS! I'm super proud of them. Grant's technique and form are really improving, and Isaac is doing so well to remember all the stuff for the test at just 4 years old. Love my big boys. :)
We also went to the Arizona Science Center with the kiddos last week. It was pretty fun, especially the weather demo. So anyway picture overload.

p.s. (Just for braggin') ... this past week I had ALL the kiddos with me in the store to pick up a few things. When we got to the car I unlocked it and while I was buckling Seth my Granters opened the trunk and took care of ALL the groceries for me! I didn't even ask him too. I almost cried. I can't believe he's getting old enough to really be a good "gentleman" and help me out like that. Good times.

Early Mother's day gift

Proof! He does love me!!! (he is such a dada's boy:)

Ode to SHOES

I LOVE shoes. I prefer having lots of cheap CUTE shoes than just a couple of expensive ones. Right now I don't have too many just because its harder to get out shopping with four little ones and because its tight times right now...(so sick of allllllllll the economy talk, when will it end???) and because Ryan hasn't had to travel for almost a year which has been WONDERFUL, but I have no excuse for my I'M SAD RYAN IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD FOR I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG, BUT NEW SHOES WILL MAKE IT A LITTLE EASIER shoe shopping.
So anyway, I NEEDED to go shoe shopping. This is one of my favoritest (sp? word??) things. I shoe shop all the time but just look and not buy. But now I had an excuse. We are going on vacation later this month and my current sneaks give me blisters if I wear them too long. (elastic stretched out from wearing them 10 months preggers and swollen as big as a whale, and yes I said elastic...kid shoes people...) (Is it bad that I'm a bit grateful for this?;) Here's the problem though, I needed functional shoes, not necessarily CUTE shoes. That almost seems like a waste of money to me. Why buy shoes if they're not ridiculously cute!? But I don't want to spoil the vacay with blisters so I get functional ones. They are still pretty cute, but its slim picking in my size. Oh well.
I get home with my new shoes + shoes for Grant, Seth, and another pair for me (BOGO!). I LOVE LOVE LOVE my "CUTE" pair, and I like fine my functional pair. I can't wait to wear them both so the next day I wear my cuties. I don't know what it is, but having cute shoes to wear made me want to look nicer too. I spent a lot more time on hair and makeup and wore jewelry too! It made me feel bad that I need new super cute shoes to want to dress up nice, but what can you do? A girl's got the right to be lovin' her shoes...

For the inquiring minds...here's the CUTE, not practical
And my no blisters functionals... (I hope they aren't too young for me. Oh well, too late now)