Costume Parade

The grandkids all looked so cute in their costumes (except for Dane because he was a spooky dementor) that we had to go on a visiting parade. First stop was Grandma and Grandpa Allred's house.

Then we went to visit Grandpa Taylor at his office downtown.

Elphaba (Abbey), Sam (Nacho Libre), Dane (dementor), Ian (Batman)

Then, on the way home Uncle Adam sat in the car with the kids while I ran into the grocery store. He must not have been paying attention to what was going on because this is what I found when I got back. Yes that is gum in Ian's eyelashes! Some caregiver Adam is! I hope my kids accidentally cut Logan's hair one day while he is in my care. Revenge is sweet :)

The Cool Older Brother

Dane was able to make a guest appearance at Ian's school as a Royal Reader. Boy did Dane feel special being able to read 2 books to Ian's class. He read so well and the class sat and listened quietly. When Dane was in Stephanie's 4's class older siblings of kids in his class came as Royal Reader's and it was a BIG deal. So for him to be able to do this for Ian's class is pretty awesome.

When Dane and I came back to get Ian there was time to play. Ian and Abbey LOVED Dane pulling them around in the trailer.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Taylor

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Grandpa Taylor!

October 16 was my favorite father's birthday. We surprised him by showing up at Stein Erikson's in Deer Valley (where he and my mom were staying) for breakfast. My dad is great and I love him so much. And regardless of what he thinks, I did listen to at least 83% of what lectured me on while growing up.

Dane and Ian love to wrestle with him. Dane enjoys golfing (or just driving the cart) with him.

After the birthday breakfast we hit the Park City dirt jump park for some fun. The kids LOVE this place! It is pretty entertaining to watch Ian ride his scoot bike with no brakes and feet up down the jumps.

Dane is a good little rider and LOVES catching big air.

One Beautiful Sunday

We have enjoyed the most beautiful Autumn this year and we have spent as much time as possible outside. One beautiful Sunday we hiked to Cecret Lake with Grandma Sherrie and Grandpa Taylor. It is a really nice, easy hike with a beautiful reward at the end, Water!

After the hike, Dustin, the boys and I went to the last day of the October Fest at Snowbird for lunch and activities. The kids begged to do the alpine slide and bounce house and we all had a wonderful time. I love this weather.

Halloween Decorating

HaLLoWeEn Time is here!

We had fun decorating the house and porch over the weekend. In one of the decoration boxes there was a Haunted House Gingerbread Kit that I bought at the end of the season last year. The boys worked really hard together eating and decorating. The finished product turned out really cute.

Everyone has decided on their costumes this year. Dane wants to be the joy sucking Dementor from Harry Potter, Ian wants to be Batman and I want Dustin and I to be Lego's (either the blocks or the funny people). Now I just need to get started finding, buying and/or making our costumes.

The Fabulous Weather

We have been doing quite a bit of biking in this beautiful weather. The kids rode up the Freeze Creek trail. It has a nice, easy climb and then a fun down hill.

I have mountain biked with some girlfriends a few times. We have done the Mid-Mountain trail in Park City, Dry Creek, and Solitude.

These old cars have been made into jumps at the end of the Bobsled Run off of the Dry Creek trail. Wish I could say that I got some sick air off of them, but.....I didn't. I prefer to keep both wheels on the ground.

First Day of School

Dane is in First Grade this year. He is finally going to school all day! His teacher is April Nielson and she is really great. Dane LOVES her already.

To get to know the kids in the class better they each have a Life Box day the first month of school. They are to decorate a small box and put 5 things in that represent them. Dane chose a giraffe, a BMX trophy, a dirt bike, a Lego, and a picture of Grandma Sherrie.

Ian is at CCNS again this year in the 3's class with Mrs. Stephanie. Of course he LOVES it! All of his friends from last year are in the same class this year so it is great to see how much they have all grown. Abbey and Sam are at CCNS this year too! They are both in Terry's class and loving it too. It is fun for Abbey and Ian to see each other at school.

Five Mile to Delta

On a beautiful sunny, summer day our family, the Dawson's, and Don, Courtney and Brittney went for a fun pre-runner ride. We drove from 5 Mile (by Eagle Mountain) to Delta Utah taking the back roads. Round trip was 200 miles and our top speed was 115 mph! Can you believe it?! When we hit top speed it was on a long, straight and fairly smooth dirt road and the kids were asleep in the back seat. The ride was so smooth and didn't feel that fast! The kids really enjoyed the ride out and back except for the grasshoppers that flew in through the windows and the open holes in the floor. Dane was hysterical! It was pretty gross but I didn't want to freak out and have Dane freak out even worse.

We stopped for lunch in Delta and then went to Stephanie Dawson's parents house to play in their huge back yard before heading back to the trailers.

I Have a 7 year-old?!

On July 20th I became the mom of a 7 year-old! I can't believe my baby boy is that old already! Dane asked me the other day why parent's don't want their kids to get older. I said it is because if you are getting older then that means I am getting older too and I still feel like I am 20!

Dane wanted to have a skate park birthday party this year. I must say it was the easiest and most fun party I have ever thrown. I loved making the invite. I just took this picture in the driveway and then embellished it using picnik.com. It was so easy and so much fun!

Since the party was from 10:00 to 12:00 in the morning I just provided healthy snacks. There were apples, carrots, grapes, peanut butter, pretzels, granola bars. We did have a pinata with candy so I figured that was enough sugar and didn't even have a cake.

The Skate Group

L to R: Daniel, Gavin, Skye, Patrick, Jackson, Dane, Wyatt, Ian, Roman, Izzy

The Birthday Group in their Rock Star sunglasses.

Sweet Boys

Last night the boys had a sleep over at Grandma Sherrie's. Dane told Grandma that he just had to call me to say goodnight. When I answered the phone I couldn't get a word in he was so excited. He said he had the perfect day! He also told me about his good, medium and bad parts of the day. We do this every night at dinner time. I love hearing what the boys remember about the day. And I think it is a good way to initiate conversation. I hope as they get older that doing this will be a good way for them to talk about things and keep the lines of communication open between us. Ian says the same thing every time. His good part was going to Abbey's house (whether he did or not). His bad part usually changes whether it was from that day or not. I just LOVE these two Boys!

The Second Day of Summer Was Better than the First

I will spare you the details of the First Day of Summer. It included quite a bit of yelling coming from me and the kids. I pulled out my hair in frustration and wondered what in the heck I was going to do with these high energy kids all summer! Aaaaagh!

We started off the second day of Summer vacation by heading out for an early hike with Skadi. The boys wake up at 6:30 pretty much every morning so I figure we should make the most of the day when everyone has lots of energy. I was so proud of the kids. They hiked for an hour with minimal complaining. The view of city in the morning was beautiful.

We came home from the hike and cleaned up and then headed to Ogden to meet my friend Natalie and her kids (Lola, and Luke) for lunch. Then we headed to the Dinosaur Museum. It was a pretty cool place with an indoor museum and then an outdoor park and lots of dinosaur statues. We had a great time!

Kindergarten Graduation Celebration

I must admit that I am sad that Dane has to leave kindergarten and these two fabulous teachers and move on to first grade. He had the most fantastic year and progressed immensely. He developed great self esteem, and became a good reader. Rachel and Lonnie were great at recognizing Dane's strengths and really encouraged him in the areas he excels in but also challenged him in the areas he is weaker in. Dane is definitely prepared and ready for first grade. I know he will remember Lonnie and Rachel forever. No one forgets their Kindergarten teacher because they play a huge roll in your development.

One think about Rowland Hall is they know how to throw parties. We had 3 different Kindergarten Celebrations! A class water day, a whole school Color (field) Day, and a graduation party. Phew! They were all very fun though and I am grateful I was able to volunteer at all of them. It was fun to be involved and spend the time with Dane.

At the class water day we released the butterflies that the kids have been caring for and observing since the caterpillar stage. It was a symbolic event. These kids started as caterpillars with the butterflies and throughout the year they both grew until it was time to be released. The butterflies out into the world and the kindergartener's into first grader's.

I must admit that I shed a few tears.

Animal House

We are in LOVE with this girl! Her name is Skadi and is our neighbors dog. She stayed with us while her owner's were in Vancouver for the Olympics and we had a hard time giving her back! She is the sweetest and most well behaved dog and she brings such joy to our house. And even thought we didn't get to keep her for good she does get to come over on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We go on a lot of walks, hikes and car rides. Ian loves her and is sad on the days she doesn't come over. Yesterday he brushed her for like 10 minutes and Skadi just sat there patiently and then they shared a graham cracker. It feels good to have a dog in the house again. With Skadi around it feels like what I can imagine being a grandparent is like. Have fun, fun, fun, sugar them up, and send them home!

These little chickies visited for a weekend from Ian's preschool class. Dane loved to hold them and I caught him taking one on a ride in Ian's play Jeep down to the sand box. I was worried all weekend that we would loose one but they all returned on Monday morning unscathed. Phew! I did learn that chicken's require some work and are really messy.

A Dane Update

"Insane Dane"

My-oh-my how our first born has grown! Dane will be 7 this summer. It seems like only yesterday I was surprised to find out I was pregnant with him. Having Dane caused our lives to change immensely for the better. Dane taught Dustin and I how to be parents. Luckily he was an easy child and didn't give us too much trouble and he was forgiving when we made the many mistakes new parents make.

Dane has been enjoying Kindergarten this year and he has really blossomed. He has fantastic teachers that make learning exciting and fun. This year Dane has become a good little reader and enjoys choosing chapter books from the library. His favorite one to read is "Ricky Ricotta and his Mighty Robot". He also likes to make his own books. He wrote and illustrated one about "a yak in the dezurt, a katis (cactus) and a valkano". I love his kid writing!

Even at his young age Dane thinks that going to school is just something to do when you can't ski, dirt bike, dune buggy, BMX, or go to the skate park. Dane lacks no confidence or self-esteem in these areas and is quick to tell you that he is "the best at.......". He did have a great time skiing at Snowbird and his skills on the mountain did improve. He loves his dirt bike and figured out how to shift so now he can go really fast. BMX has started and we will be heading out to the track a couple of days a week for practices and races. I think even Dustin (and maybe me) are going to get out on the track this year too. Dane played on a coach pitch baseball team this spring with Daniel. Nancy and I were the coaches. It was fun to see the team's improvement from the first game to last.

The one thing I love about Dane is his absolute love and admiration for Dustin. Dustin is definitely a SuperHero in Dane's eyes. Dane rushes to our room each morning in hopes of cuddling with Dustin before he gets up for work. They talk about dune buggy's, snowmobiling, and anything else. Dane is so proud that his dad is a Desert Racer and is Dustin's #1 Fan!

Dane is also a very good big brother to Ian. They definitely have their fights but for the most part they get along well and enjoy each other.

We love Dane so much and are so glad to have him in our family!