Mom of the Year

And the Ghetto Mom of the Year Award goes to...

So it was the first day of school but there was also a free concert for a band that we really like at 4:00 so...ya, we pulled them out early for the show. Here they are with the cute guys from band; they were so nice to the kids too! check 'em out: Synthetic Elements and they have a myspace page with music up. They were a blast! Evan really did have fun, he just looks disgruntled as always.

Evan't first day!

Here's our baby off to kindergarden! He loved it and, although a little apprehensive and first, he said the day was great and he met a thousand new kids!

Pirate's Cove Water Park

We spent our last day of summer at the water park going on the slides, the lazy river, the sandy beach and relaxing! Now back to school!

More park pics

Another fun day at the park in our neighborhood! Tyler was a bundle of sunshine!

More zoo pics

These cute kids were volunteering at the zoo painting faces. It was so cool.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

This place was a blast! It is in Colorado Springs and a bit of a hike to get around since it is built up on a mountain side but so cool! We got to feed giraffes, get our faces painted and see all kinds of cool stuff. The monkeys and apes were the best! So much personality! One was flipping us off and another was hitting on us! Ha ha! Good times, good times!

A Day at the Park

Few pics from Idyllwilde Park in our neighborhood, summer fun...yay.

Dillon's Day

Dillon was baptised on June 6th! It was a great day and we had grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins and lots of friends there to share with us! Dillon and his friend, Hallee, even sang a duet! It was priceless! Congrats on your great decision Dill!

Mother's Day

This

was my mother's day gift from my boys and I loved it! Blaine built these great redwood planter boxes and then filled them with soil (all with his leg in a brace, mind you!). We all worked together to pick out some seedlings and get them in the dirt. What fun!

Arugala

Red Leaf Lettuce

Roma Tomatoes

Zucchini

Yellow Squash

Butternut Squash

Strawberries

Onions

Rosemary, Tarragon, Parsley, Basil, Choc. Mint and Marjoram

YUM!

Dillon

This kid is really killing it. Here are some pics of Dillon rockin' the C-Rock:

Manual, he's got these on lock
50/50

Dropping in on the BIG ONE!

Roll in at the big ramps

Cute buns, sorry, that's not very cool to say (they are cute tho!)

Anti Bucket List

Everyone else is doing it so we thought we'd be the joiners that we are here.

Here is a list of things we will never cry if we don't do:
Go to BYU
Have daughters (that's a cop out cuz' we can't but we are happy with what we got)
Wear Tevas or Crocs
Meet Blossom
Smoke Crack
Pierce anything except maybe a nostril
Live in Arizona
Scrapbook
See the Jonas Brothers or any other Disney machine that we are pretty sure is a dare to see just how powerful Disney is and just what sheep americans are
Go to Vegas, except In and Out
Ski
Eat fried oreos
Hunt large game
Visit Uzbekistan
Swim with sharks
Sew anything
Meet Tom Cruise or even see him or even hear his voice
Watch Lost
Be pregnant
Rollerblade
Quit swearing
sleep in a tent that hangs off a cliff
See REO Speedwagon in concert
Read from the Kabala
Watch that horse race where the ladies all wear big hats and drink mint stuff
that's all we can write because our parents read this sometimes.

Tyler's Birthday

Yes, Tyler's birthday was in September; however, I just found these pics on my phone and thought I'd share! He got to choose where to eat his birthday dinner and so he picked Mt. Fuji, a (very expensive) teppan grill and sushi place in town. Yes, it was over the budget and no, they did not have a kids menu... but it was actually worth it. The kids were sooo well behaved, handled the chopsticks beautifully (with trainers, of course!) and two out of three of them tried the sushi! They had a great time and it was nice to finally be at a place where we can take our boys out to a nice restaurant and know they will behave and enjoy it! Well done boys and good choice Tyler! Happy 11 years old (now that you are 11 and a half!)

Sunday

Just thought this was a cute scene. Would be even better if Evan could actually READ the paper, but the pictures are fun too, I guess.

Dillon is really into it. He is a great reader and he really spends a lot of time buried in books.

Blaine's First Day of School

It is a big year for us. Evan starts kindergarden, Dillon gets baptised, Tyler gets the preisthood and Blaine starts school.

Here is a cute pic of Blaine before he left for his first day at CU Denver. He remembered his backpack and snack and pen and pencil and paper. He worried that people would think he brought a chisel and tablets while they had laptops. I told him he's not THAT old.

It will be a loonnnggg two years but we are so happy that he has chosen to finish school! Dillon wrote him a very nice note in church Sunday. It went something like...

To: Dad

I am glad you are my dad. I am proud of you for going to college. I know you will be good in college.

Love, Dillon

I am proud, too! Always looking forward to the next great adventure! Guess I gotta come up with something big to do this year so I am not left out! Any suggestions?

It gets cold here

So, yeah, it gets cold in Colorado. Here are some pics of this winter. December was soooo cold! We braved the elements to ice skate and play, though. By the way, today is 62 and tomorrow will be pushing 70 so don't feel too bad for us. Then Saturday, we'll be snowboarding so that won't suck.

Garden of the Gods

With Ryan and Kim and the kids!

Dill-y-yo-yo

It's not that I forgot about Dillon, I really thought I had more time to post before anyone read our blog and my day got away before I finished.

I have inadvertently written a little ditty about the kids so here is Dill's:

Dillon is happy.

If that is all I said, it would be enough if you know him.

Dillon loves.

Everything. Everyone.

Dillon has a cute scratchy voice and he worries sometimes that it does not sound good when he sings but it does. He has a goofy smile but it is his real, sincere one; it's just goofy and we love it.

Dillon is trying to learn the words to "You're Beautiful" so that he can sing it to someone someday.

That is Dillon, he is happy and he wants to make you happy. I want to be like him; but he will love me if I'm not.

and then along came Evan

Here is Evan:

sometimes he needs a mom, but not as much as I need him.

sometimes he hugs, but mostly he gives high fives with a little bro secret handshake with his daddy.

sometimes he gets dressed and makes his bed and makes himself a peanut butter sandwich before anyone else is up.

sometimes he plays video games in Tyler's closet so no one can find him and make him turn it off.

sometimes he lays down and falls asleep on the dog.

sometimes he sings social distortion songs to himself.

sometimes he just comes up to you and kicks you in the leg.

sometimes he smiles at you, like this, and you just love him and pray he will always love you back...in whatever way he wants to.

This is for sure

Blaine and I had a teenage friend ask us an interesting question.

"what are you guys going to do with your lives?" he asked, "probably stay together?"

It was interesting because, right now, lots of things are not sure; however, that one thing is for sure.

Blaine and I spent the weekend snowboarding with some shop skaters. We had a really great time and I think that it is so great that we could do that together. We both love to ride and I find it really nice that we support one another having fun. Of course, it is always better when we can have fun together but that is not always possible like it was this weekend. Sometimes he gets to do fun stuff and sometimes I do and sometimes it's equal and sometimes it's not.

We have tried that kind of relationship where we try to out-do eachother with pity parties and see who had the crappiest day but we found it is better to try to have a great day everyday and encourage the same for our family. Blaine loves to know that I had fun and I love to know he had fun.

Truth be told... having fun together knocks the socks off of anything else!

Tyler

I love all my kids for different reasons. One reason I love Tyler is because he is so dang gorgeous. He is becoming less of a mini-Blaine and more of a Tyler. Here are some newer pics of him that I thought you'd like. In every child there lies a little angel and these really show his angel.