Jasmine Turns 5!

Btw, I have to mention these beads in her hair because they were so fun, they were the color changing ones, so when she went in the sun they were rainbow colored, as she called them. You can't really tell in the picture. My friend Chandelle gave me the idea and we loved it.

Jasmine is my little cutie.

Both of my kids are very artistic but from the time she was two I have been amazed at how long she will sit and do an art project on her own. She LOVES to create things. She will come home from church and re-create the signs that the music leader was using to teach songs, things that her teacher used for handouts, coloring projects, card making, signs all over the house, you name it. She is a crafty girl.

So I thought what better present then her very own art table? Plus then my kitchen table could get some relief! This is her own little space and she uses it to the max.

It was a very fun surprise.

She couldn't believe that she had her very own tape (she is always taking mom's) and scissors, and watercolors and stamps...etc...etc...etc!

Jasmine, you are such a treasure in our family. I am so happy that I get to have a daughter that is so sweet and kind and thoughful. Thank you for coming to our family!

P.S. I forgot to mention that her aunt Li made her the cutest princess dress ever...I found these pictures and had to post them! She LOVED it!

Scout Camp 2009

We had to hurry home from Six Flags and take Shay straight to scout camp. He had so much fun and loves that he is a scout now!

Trip to Six Flags Amusement Park

I won some tickets to Six Flags Magic Mountain in California literally 2 years ago and for some reason or another we were not able to go every time we tried. Jonas called and got the expiration date extended like 4 times!!! Way to go baby! It was totally worth it because we finally all got to go together as a family this summer. This was one the the highlights of the summer for the kids even though it was a short 1 day trip.

Jonas just wanted to show off his stong muscles, just kidding, I made him pose this way. Doesn't he look awesome? He is the Superman of our family.

Oh boy, this is a funny story. So Shayden is a sucker for all rip off carnival games. He always begs us to play and we say forget it. Well my dad gave them each $5 to spend so it was his money and we decided to let him learn this lesson the hard way. He had his sights set on of course the biggest Sonic stuffed animal there was. So hard to earn right? Nope, the guy totally gave it to him the machine wasn't working right. And then they played again and earned a medium size stuffed animal, which Jonas gave to me. The man even gave Tayevion and Jasmine a small one so we walked away with 4 prizes! Not exactly the lesson I had intended, but of course Shayden was happy as can be!!! Look at his face in this picture, it totally says, "ha! I showed them!".

Jasmine being silly when in reality both of them are pretty wimpy when it comes to scary rides.

Now Jonas, on the other hand is a total thrill seeker. He went on as many of the scary rides as we could drag ourselves to.

It was a very fun packed and tiring day!

A Christmas Carol Event

In June, (I know, this is seriously out of order, but obviously I am beyond caring) we went to the big Disney event in Ogden to promote the new movie coming out this Christmas. It was fun and the kids, my mom, and I rode the frontrunner for the first time. We met our cousins there of course.

There was a horrendous amount of people there. My niece Kiki forgot to bring a book to read (tragedy) so she picked up Shayden's Magic Treehouse book to read while we were in line, which she finished. She is 17 mind you.

The actual exhibit was in a train car.

It was all these really cool interactive ways to tell about the movie. They did an awesome job and we will definately go see the movie. But wouldn't we have gone to see it anyway? Probably.

Then we got to see a 3D movie preview in another train car. Pretty cool.

After the event we went to eat at my favorite little place in downtown Ogden called Bagels and Buns. They have the cutest little outside eatery too.

Science Class

We have had the coolest opportunity to go to the Discovery Gateway on a weekly basis for a science class all because of my job with EHS. They learn so much and have a blast each week!

Visit from our Texas Family!

We love when our Texas family comes to visit, we are so glad it has become pretty much a summer tradition, I hope it stays that way forever!!! One of the most memorable things that we did while they were here was go to the new Oquirrh Mountain temple open house.

We went out to eat before.

Me and my cutie little nephew that I love so much!

The boys with their Guatemala shirts that my parents brought back.

I would just like to thank my sister who let me steal some of these pictures from her blog. Ok I did it without permission, sorry.

Fun with Cousins

My sister is law came into town with my niece and nephews! Yeah! The first day they were here, my cousin also came up from Las Vegas (in the pink shirt).

So we had to take pictures of the millions of cousins...

Field Trip: Bowling

Our High School Musical Day!

So who knew you could go tour the East High and have lunch there in the summer??? Wow were my nieces, nephew, and kids in heaven over this one, my sister and I should have won some sort of mom award.

It was so funny because my nieces were like, trying to be all cool since there were other teens there, (summer school was in session) but then as soon as we got to the pink locker, they couldn't contain their excitement any more! We actually couldn't find the locker and were going to leave but then I asked a janitor. Poor guy, probably gets asked that question all the time!

And just so you know, they actually sell maps of all of the HSM spots in the school!

Lazy Summer Day in July (who knows the date?)

This summer it feels like we didn't get too many lazy summer days...hmm...I wonder why that is? (That was a rhetorical question!)
But here is proof that we did have a few.
Playing with our friends visiting from California,
these kids are soooo cute!

We had fun with water...

and with shaving cream...

that got a little out of control as you can see! *so funny*

And this is them getting hosed off at the end...heehee

I am bound and determined to get my blog updated and out of this black hole of being waaaaaayyy behind! I don't think I have ever been quite this behind, ahhhh!
Wish me luck and enjoy what I have posted so far...

Farm Country

We visited Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point with my work. We had never been there before and I was pleasantly surprised.

kiss kiss

*so cute*

Holding on to dad's ears~love it!

This is the Place Heritage Park

This festival has turned into one of my favorite traditions of the summer. This year my sister and three of her kids got to go with us. It was so much fun!

I have to share this though, because I think there is something seriously wrong with me. I was standing in line behind a couple of moms waiting for our kids to get a turn to paint. And they were talking about what a disappointment this festival was. And I was intrigued naturally because I love it so much and there is soooo much to do!!! But apparently they thought it would be more like carnival rides and sitting around in the shade letting their kids play. Instead it was very hot, hot, hot and muggy and we were dragging our kids from one activity to the next. Anyway it was funny because here I am having a great old time and they are so bored. I tried to suggest some of the other activities that they might like, like the train, or the petting zoo. But they weren't having it. I know that most of you are way more content sitting at home sipping popsicles, but I would much rather cart my kids all over the place. I'm just a wierdo.

I'm sure Tayevion was thinking, what kind of a family was I born into?

The happy bunch.

4th of July 2009

For the fourth of July this year we went to a tiny but huge parade in Kaysville (who knew?) and then hung out at my sister's house for some good ol' summer fun in the water.

Don't you love the bright colors of summer? I wish all year could be summer, I really should move somewhere warm.

Momnapped

My hubby and kids momnapped me and took me on a picnic!

Shayden's Imagine A Piano Performance

This took place in May, btw.

Thanks to Youth City Artways and the Mundi Project, Shayden, along with his keyboarding class, got this wonderful opportunity to perform in a Monster Concert with a bunch of other schools. It was a really big deal, with tons of practices at the UofU and elsewhere, and I even had to pull him out of school twice! They performed for a few schools at Glendale Middle and I think he really learned a lot from this experience.

His group played the theme to the Simpsons and at first I was like "what?" but it turned out spectacular!

Jon Schmidt came and performed and entertained the kids so much, Shayden was really impressed with him. He even played with his toes!

We got to go watch him that night at the evening concert. It was amazing with 10 pianos and about 60 pianists on the stage! It sounded fantastic and everyone did such a great job! We were very proud parents. Shayden is very musically inclined and I hope experiences like this will teach him that he does have great talents that he can develop further. Go Shayden!

To watch a one minute multimedia clip of the concert click here. Too bad you can't see Shayden in any of the angles, but he was next to the blond girl in the middle. Sounds awesome!