Father & Son's Campout

After school got out on Friday and we took the kids to ice cream, we went home and the boys got all packed up for our wards Father & Son's camp out that night.  Carson has been so excited to go.  This year, the camp was held at Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville.  Which is only 10 minutes from Tremonton.  So on the way to camp, the boys went to Tremonton to pick up some camping gear and fire wood from my parents house and to also pick up some breadsticks from Pizza Plus for their dinner that night.  They got up there early enough to set up their tent and play a few 'Minute to Win It' games.  They also swam a little bit at the pool.  Later that night they had a fireside, smores and some cobbler.   

 Nick said that Carson and him were the first ones up the next morning.  (Surprise surprise...Carson is an early riser at home every day!).  They got the fire going and then started getting things ready for breakfast.  Nick was asked to be in charge of the breakfast that morning that the ward provides.    From what I heard it was a great breakfast!  They did dutch oven sausage, potatoes and eggs.

After breakfast, Carson went swimming again with the Yospe's while Nick got everything cleaned up.  They made it home around 1:30, after stopping again at Pizza Plus to bring us home an order of Breaksticks from Pizza Plus.  Yum!  Gma Joy had spent the night Friday night since the choir had a recording that night and Saturday.  Then she stayed again last night and watched the kids so Nick and I could go to dinner.  It was a lazy Saturday, but fun!  We were all in bed pretty early, but Carson especially didn't mind since he was so worn out from camping!

Carson's End of Year Program

On Friday, we all went to Carson's end of year program for his first grade class.  They sang sons, played the chimes, and then we watched a slide show of their whole year.  It was great!  I can't believe that they only have two weeks of school left!  It will be a fun summer, but it will also be a little sad and boring to not have Carson in school every day.  Here are some pictures of his program.

Carson has loved having Mrs. Thompson as his teacher, and so have we.  We heard that she was the 'teacher to get' for first grade, and they weren't wrong.  She has been amazing and I am sad that she can't be his teacher again next year.  He is made such progress with his reading this past year and with the other subjects and I am just so proud of the work he has done.  He is very ready for second grade!  Poor Kaylee, she has one more year of preschool before she gets to go to Kindergarten, even though she would be more than happy to go now!  I just can't get to ahead of myself, because before you know it, they will be graduating!

Tracy Aviary

Yesterday, we had a super fun afternoon with the kids at Tracy Aviary.  This year we got Utah Passes of all Passes, that include season passes to 7 peaks water park, sporting events, trafalga fun centers and the Tracy Aviary.  We headed to the aviary as soon as Carson got home from school.  They close at 5, but it gave us enough time to check out most of the birds and have some fun.  I think the kids really enjoyed it!  My favorite were the pink flamingos.  We also all enjoyed watching the ducks and swans in the big pond.  At one point we watched as a duck got a fish and a bigger swan tried taking it away from the duck and was chasing it all around the pond.  It was so funny and the kids got a kick out of watching them.  Luckily the duck kept a hold of his fish and didn't let the swan get his fish!  Here are some pictures of our day at the aviary.

 After we got done at the Aviary, we headed back to Bountiful, picked up a pizza and went and ate at Bountiful City park.  It was a beautiful evening and we had a blast.  Alivia cuddled with Dad on the blanket after dinner, but then was a bundle of energy on the toys.  She loved sliding down the slides and climbing around the big toy.  It was a great way to spend our FHE.  We can't wait to take advantage of our passes of all passes all summer long!

Happy Mother's Day! :)

On Sunday, I woke up six AM to a wonderful breakfast in bed made by Carson.  All by himself!!!  He poured me a bowl of Raisin Bran!  It was so cute!!!  He brought it to me so I could eat it in bed and everything!!!  It was all totally his idea and his doing!  He really is the sweetest boy!  He also gave me a card, a plant that he planted at school (and kept in his bag since Friday, so we made sure to get it watered right away), and a cute lady bug pin made out of clay that I wore with my sweater that day.  He spoiled me good!  Kaylee then woke up and brought in her card she had made me too.  We went to church and we enjoyed listening to dad give his talk and then the older kids got up and sang three mothers day songs.  They did great singing and smiling!  After church we made some brownies that we would take to Gma Joy's house and also some delicious chocolate covered strawberries.  Yum!  We headed to Gma's house around 2:30 and on our way there, around the 650 North Exit in Roy we watched a lady in a car run off the road and into the wire fencing in the median.  It was crazy!!!  At first I thought she was just pulling off because maybe she had a flat, then she kept going and I thought maybe she fell asleep.  Who knows what happened or why she did that, but I also think there was a possibility that she was texting.  We were right behind her (other than a truck she cut off when she moved from the middle lane to the left lane).  So we stopped and pulled off the road, and backed up to see if she was okay and I called the Highway Patrol.  Nick went and made sure she was ok.  I guess she is an 18 year old HS senior that just lived close by.  She didn't tell Nick why she ran off the road (which is why I think she was texting).  We made sure she was okay until the police got there, which took at least 10 minutes.  We finally got back on our way to my moms house and enjoyed a wonderful day!  When we got there we had her open the present we made her.  An oven mitt that had the three kids' handprints on them with "Helping Hands" written on the bottom.  Then we got to skype with Elder Brower for over an hour!  He is doing great and we are all excited to see him in about 5 weeks!

Then we had some yummy pork and rice dinner.  And some great sides including watermelon, that Matt managed to dump all over the floor! Haha!!  We all enjoyed the chocolate strawberries, especially the little kids who I think got more chocolate on themselves then in their mouth!

The weather was perfect that day and we enjoyed just hanging out and being with our family.  I feel like such a lucky mom to have such great kids and sometimes get overwhelmed when I think about having another one!  It was a great way to spend Mother's day!

Before we headed back home, Nick helped Matt move a heavy safe from Nat's gma's house in Tremonton.  She has a beautiful back yard with a fun pond and swing.  We played there for a few minutes before heading home.  The kids loved it!  I could have stayed for hours enjoying the beautiful evening and views there!

Again, it was a great day and I felt so loved from my kids that day.  They even said I could lick the brownie batter bowl all by myself since it was Mother's day, but I did share with Kaylee. :)  Not only am I thankful for my wonderful kids who make me so happy, but also for my own mom and for all that she taught me.  I am also grateful for my mother in law, sisters, and friends who are moms and for all that I learn from them.  I don't know I would do what I do without them.  I am always asking for help, advice, or just calling them to vent when I am having a hard day, because I know they will understand....they are a mom too!  So I hope they all enjoyed a wonderful Mother's day too!

Davis Dash

We had such a fun Saturday!  Nick worked for a few hours and then he came home and we took the kids to the Davis School District Centennial celebration in Kaysville.  Carson had brought home a flier for it on Friday and told me he wanted to run the 1 mile kids run.  The celebration included a Davis Dash 5K and 10K as well.  They also were going to have a car show, music, bounce houses, food, and other booths.  So even though it was short notice, we decided Saturday morning that it would be fun to go.  Carson was super excited to run!  We got there in time to look at a few cars and get him registered for the run.  He got a tshirt for participating and he wore it for the race.  

 There were probably about 50 kids that ran the one mile race that day.  They basically ran around the school track and field and then back to the start.  I am not even sure if it was a whole mile, but Carson had a blast and the rest of the day he kept asking me "Can you believe I ran a mile Mom!?!"  I think he was pretty proud of himself!  It was cute.

 After the race he got a granola bar, water, and chocolate milk (his favorite part).  Then we ventured over to the food area and found us some hot dogs, chips, and a drink for lunch.  Then we bought a few tickets to play games and do the bounce houses.  We also listened to the Davis HS Drumline.....it was so cool.  Totally reminded me of when I did drumline.  I played the tenors (the five drums).  Alivia loved it and clapped her hands and smiled when they played.  It was cute!

 The funniest thing was watching Carson do this velcro bounce thing.  He barely fit into the suit and so you could barely see his head when he was clinging to the wall.  It was hilarious!!!  Then it was even more funny when they hung him upside down!  He loved it!

 The kids got their face painted before we left.  Kaylee got a cute rainbow and Carson got a cool spider.

 It was a great way to spend a few hours on Saturday.  We stopped at Bowmans market on the way home and all got a donut!  Yum!  Then we headed home and Livy took a nap while the older kids played in the water.  I ran a few errands and got some groceries while Nick worked on his talk for sacrament meeting.  Yes, Nick had to talk on Mother's Day AND teach the lesson for Priesthood.

  

We had monster pancakes for dinner and we had the kids in bed by 8 and we were in bed by 9.  Yes, we are getting old, but we had a LONG day and I didn't feel too bad going to bed so early.  It was a great Saturday spent with just our family and I hope to have many more like that soon!