etreme makeover

Mark and I have been busy the past two weeks working on Ethan and Jake's room. As you can see those two boys have made their fair share of holes in the walls. Anyway after a few trips to Ikea we managed to make great use of their closet. I am really excited about the new look. Ryan can barely wait to move down there.

Now I just need to decorate. But my mom told me to wait until she got here before I did anything crazy. She has a great eye for things. So hopefully by the end of February there will be some pictures on the wall and we'll still be hole free.

Ethan's Song

So this morning while Mark and I were cleaning out Ethan and Jake's room Ethan wrote a song on the guitar. We recorded him singing it. Here it is.



Here's a picture of his lyrics and chords. So far he has learned A and D

And if you can't read them they say

How come I have come here
How come I have come here
How did I get here.
I'm all a----lone!
I'm just going alone.
I don't know. I am wet
I am going home
I am going home
Maybe I'm not alone I think wolf in my house wow there is I'm not alone.

Christmas break

I have LOVED having my boys home for Christmas break. And I am not really looking forward to sending them back to school. We had tons of fun. The first day of the break I asked them what they wanted to do while they were out of school. Our list included:

Jump on It (trampoline place)

Kangaroo Zoo (inflatable/bounce house place)

Chuck E. Cheese

Indoor Pool

Christmas craft

Making gingerbread men

Friend day

Video game day

Snow day (Jake was convinced it was going to snow the first day of winter)

Library

&

Trafalga

We didn't quite fit all of these in. But we had fun trying. I took them to Kangaroo Zoo for my birthday. It was a great birthday party! We made reindeer hats and pipe cleaner candy canes. We had one day where everyone had a friend over, our house was crazy! We went to Jump On it and Trafalga. I planned the pool day on Mark's day off without really thinking about it. (Mark's not really into swimming) so we went to McDonald's instead. I printed off coupons so we could go to Chuck E. Cheese's but I couldn't find the energy that day. We also made it to the library and got lots of fun new books. I made my first homemade gingerbread house. The boys had fun decorating it in the afternoon and then eating destroying it after dinner. We did gingerbread men the next day.  And of course my kids had lots of time playing video games. They usually have to read 1 min for every min of video game playing but over the break I didn't really enforce this rule.

And for Christmas I got a new camera so I am back in blogging business.

Here's a few pictures of the boys since I know you have missed seeing them.

My mom got Jake, Ryan, and Andrew all matching pj's for Christmas. Ethan got a glow in the dark science kit. He's not into penguins like the younger three. So here's a few pictures of the boys in their jammies.

Happy New Year!

We're still here

So I know I have been slacking on the blog lately. I don't really like to blog much with out pictures and lately the only pictures we have taken have been with Mark's phone. I still don't have those yet. So in case you think we have disappeared we are still here in Lehi. And this is what we have done the last little while

Andrew turned 2! He is crazy and thinks he is at least 4. I would say he is our little bully. He likes to pick on everyone and can pretty much hold his own. He is constantly talking in sentences which we can usually only understand 2-3 words of. He loves to ride his bike and be outside. He loves doing anything with his brothers.

I went on a lovely trip to Las Vegas/St. George with my mom and sisters. It was SO fun! We all met in Las Vegas because Kellie could fly there for really cheap. Saturday we went to a spa and got facials and pampered ourselves. Sunday we went to church with my sister-in-law Michele and had dinner afterwards with her and Dan. Tim and Katie and boys were there too. It was so fun to see everyone. On Monday we spent the day shopping. Kellie surprised us and out shopped us all! I don't think that has ever happened in my lifetime. Tuesday we had my mom's high school friend over and 4 of her daughters and their kids. We had lunch and enjoyed visiting with them. Mary is a hoot! She has 13 children, only 3 adopted. I can't even imagine. We went to Tuachan that night and saw Greece. Loved it. Wednesday we went to the St. George temple and then to lunch and then came home. It was a great trip and I actually came home really exhausted! Those girls never stop.

Ryan turned 4. Crazy. He still seems so little. (He is pretty short, about a head shorter than everyone in his primary class) I had a birthday party for him with his friends. It was so fun. We played pin the nose on the pumpkin. As the first two kids were going Emily commented that she was surprised that none of them were cheating. I said they are only 3 and 4 they don't think of that. Then it was Ryan's turn. He totally cheated! ha ha. He was way cute opening his presents. Every one he would say, I love this, I never had this before, Thank you. One present had a candy bar in it. As soon as he pulled it out he asked if everybody wanted some. He then said we could break it into pieces. He is such a joy to have in our family.

Mark released his i phone game. Its called Monster Blast. He has been working on it for the past year mostly at home. Then just a month or so ago He spent a little time at work finishing it up with the help of some of the other guys there. I am so happy that he has it done. Way to go Mark. It is great to see him think of something, say he's going to do it and then actually finish it. So if you have read this far and want to download it. Here is the link. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monster-blast/id468465303?mt=8

Ethan's birthday

I am still kind of in shock that I have an 8 year old! Ethan's birthday was on July 21st. He does a summer program with the school for the deaf each year so he had school that morning. It was a field trip. He had a ton of fun and brought twinkies for everyone. When Grandma and Grandpa got to our house all Ethan wanted to do was open his presents. So we let him. Then we did cake. I made an ice cream cake. I put oreo cookies on the bottom then a layer of ice cream then a layer of fudge and reeses peanut butter cups then a layer of ice cream then some caramel and then cool whip. It was pretty good if I do say so myself :)

I know this is blurry but its the best I've got.

Ethan said he wanted a spiderman cake so I got a little toy to put on top. He was so excited about all his new toys that he didn't even eat one bite of his cake.

On August 6 Ethan was baptized. IT was such a special day. We were the only ones in the ward getting baptized so we got to do the whole program ourselves. It was nice. We had SO much family come and support us. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for such an amazing family. Mark's mom gave a talk. It was perfect and so sweet. Thank You. Ethan was so cute as he got baptized. I am so happy to be his mom.

Here is our silly little family after the baptism. Its the best we could do. I am sure if I had all girls it would perfectly posed but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Some cute things Ethan said on his baptism day.

He walked into the stake center and told them he was there to get baptized. He was then escorted to get his clothes. When he saw them he asked if it was ok if they got wet.

When Brother Johnson was giving the closing remarks he asked Ethan if he knew what he had promised that day. Ethan said, "yes, to always do what Jesus wants me to, be good and not bad"

Emily gave me a new hair cut on Thursday. I accidentally told her to cut it super short. So here it is. I have officially washed it and styled it on my own and here are the pictures.

I am trying to get Ethan not to give me bunny ears. He is such a tease.

July so far

WE really have been doing things in July. I some how forgot about everything until I was putting on the pictures onto my computer this morning. So here they are. Mark took Ethan and Jake fishing with his dad. I took the two little boys to Chuck E. Cheeses. As Ryan would say it is more funner than anything. Andrew loved driving all the cars.

Ryan was so happy when the real live Chuck E. Cheese came out. Andrew was excited to wave from a distance.

My cousin Ben and his wife Kelsey had their 3rd baby. They blessed her on fast Sunday in July. It was so fun to see everyone.

Here's our family with my dad's parents. They are amazing. They had 8 kids, 6 of them boys. Ethan found a spider and brought it with in inches of my grandma's face. She didn't even flinch when she saw it. She only asked if he knew what kind it was. Mark got some really cute pictures of my Grandpa carrying Andrew around. They are on his phone so those will have to wait until later.

This is Andrew and one of my cousins kids. Andrew thought it would be a good idea to share the car. She obviously didn't.

We thought this was funny to have Andrew pushing Ryan around.

Here are my cousins.

Melissa, Me, Kaylee, Candice, and Bethany

I am right in between Bethany and Melissa in age. I have so many great memories with these girls. It was so fun to be with them.

WE made it to the fireworks too. I think this is only the second time we have done fireworks with our kids. We went to Thanksgiving Point. It was great. We left at 9:30 parked and sat down by 9:45 and the fireworks were from 10-10:30 and we were home by 11:15. Our boys loved it and I would definitely do it again.

June Recap

Kellie and her two kids came and stayed with us June 14-17. They were headed up to Wenatchee WA. We had so much fun with them. Ryan and Star were inseparable. One night they tried to sleep in Ryan's bed together. It didn't last long.

We went to go visit our grandparents in Spanish Fork and Mapleton. I never remember to get my camera out but at the second house I did! So here are some pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Hales' house.

Ryan and Star

I don't know why but I just thought this view was so cute.




Here's my grandma with the great grand kids. My grandpa had to take my cousin to his piano lesson so he was in and out while we were there.

My kids love their dog Bogie. They wanted a picture with him.

My Grandma and me in our DI outfits!

Kellie and Grandma

Jake's last attempt to touch the Llama. He doesn't really like kids.

Ethan started summer scouts. He loves it. He went to Day camp and couldn't stop talking about how amazing it was. The first day of scouts Jake and Ryan were crying to me because they weren't twins with Ethan. They said, "it isn't fair, Ethan gets to do everything first!"

I bought this little inflatable pool. The boys love running and jumping in it more than just playing in it. They have had lots of fun so far.



Emily and Matthew and Max came and stayed with us the last week of June. They are moving into their apartment today. We made these little crab sandwiches. They are from the Family Fun Magazine.

Jake was really wanting me to make them. He asked me if he ate lunch at school when he was in first grade I said yes. He then told me he was super excited and wanted me to put one of these in his lunch every day. Sorry Jake you will not be having croissant sandwiches packed in your lunch daily.




This was our first of eternal pack nights. I think I will be going to these for the next 10 years.
They welcomed Ethan into cub scouts at pack night. He got branded with CUBS.

Ethan Loves Cub Scouts!

Spencer got a motorcycle making him officially the coolest uncle ever! The boys loved wearing his helmet around the house.