Christmas Fun!

Winter Fun!

Sledding Video

While visiting Kade's family in Springville for Christmas we took Kellin sledding at Rock Canyon park. He was such a dare devil - he had no fear and carried his sled up the hill a few dozen times! I was so proud of him, he never complained about the cold and wasn't scared at all. It was so fun to watch him fly down the hill, we all had a great time. Well, almost all of us, Ethan refused to wear his gloves and his hands were freezing and so after about a half an hour I had to take him to the car and turn on the heater. We had fun in the car though, listening to Christmas music and eating gold fish. All in all it was a great day and we loved getting to make such great memories with our kids and Kade's family.

Picture with Santa

Birthday Bliss!

For my birthday this year (the big 3-0) Kade took me to see Phantom of the Opera in Las Vegas. It was spectacular. I was feeling a bit down the week leading up to my birthday and really hoping that Kade would plan something special for me. Most years I'm happy to simply go to dinner as a family to celebrate my birthday but this year I felt like I wanted to do something more special since I was leaving my 20's and felt like all of a sudden I was becoming a grown up. The night couldn't have been more perfect. We had my neice babysit the boys and we drove down to Vegas which usually feels like a long hour and a half drive with the kids in the back but it was so nice to have that time to just talk without any distractions. When we got to Vegas we picked up the tickets and then went to Sushi Samba at the Venetian and had some delicious sushi. Kade and I started eating sushi almost 3 years ago and it has become one of our favorite things to do together. We love to go to new sushi restaurants and try out different types of sushi rolls - seriously if you are scared to try it, just give it a chance, it is so good and so flavorful and there are plenty of rolls that are fully cooked. After dinner we went to the show which I absolutely loved. I have always loved Phantom and as soon as i heard the music start I couldn't help but to tear up. It was awesome. Great special effects, wonderful singing, great acting, good seats, etc. After the show we found a little cafe and got dessert and hot chocolate before driving back home. I just want Kade to know that this was the best birthday ever and I know how lucky I am to have him as my husband and as the father of my kids. Thanks Kade for making me feel so special & loved!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we went to my sister Vivian's house in California. We left at around 6:30 pm Wednesday evening and the drive is about 6 1/2 hours long. We always dread the long drive but it went by surprisingly fast and the kids slept most of the drive. Whenever we do these long driving trips I always wish I had a super fancy SUV with GPS, personal DVD players, iPod docking station, etc. Maybe some day, right? Although, I think back to the days when I was a kid on those long family drives and I remember some good times on the road, maybe without the DVD players, iPods, etc there's more time for talking & playing games. I remember my sister and I would use a cassette tape to record the sound of our favorite movies, Princess Bride & Clue, and listen to the audio of the movie in the back of the station wagon. To this day, I can still remember every line in both of those movies (and I bet my sister Emily can too)! Anyways, we had a great Thanksgiving weekend with both the Amato family & the Richardson family. We spent Thanksgiving at my sister Vivian's house and most of the Amato siblings were there. We ate lots of yummy food (and my yams that I made from a recipe from my sister Shelley were a huge hit!) and visited and had a great time. We played a classic family game of Monopoly, which is always very, um, interesting and entertaining. I think just about every year there is a argument about the rules, someone gets upset about something, and somehow there is usually some sort of religious discussion as well (how religion makes its way into Monopoly I don't know, but somehow it always does). In my Amato family we have someone from just about every religious persuasion out there, I think all we need is a Buddhist and an atheist and we would have it covered, which always makes for entertaining coversations! Kellin had a great time with his cousins Annie & Mac finding worms in the backyard and pretenting to eat them. Ethan also enjoyed the worms, I think he might have actually eaten one. All I know is I walked outside to see him with a muddy face & hands, chewing on something! yum-o, protien!!


Cousin Annie, Ethan, Cousin Mac & Kellin "eating" worms.


On Friday evening we went down to San Clemente to visit my sister Shelley, her family, my mom & dad and my brother Jeff. We took the kids down to the beach and let them play along the shore looking for seashells and splashing in the (freezing) waves. Ethan had a great time playing in the sand & getting all dirty - he is such a boys boy!



On Saturday night we took the kids roller skating with my sister Vivian & her family, my sister Kathy & her family, and my niece Ashley. It was like, totally so fun! I wished I had an awesome pair of tube socks or some awesome bell bottoms on. They let us push the stroller around so we all took turns pushing Ethan around the rink, playing tag, and trying to show Kellin how to skate. Kade got tagged by someone and reached forward to tag someone else and totally biffed it hard! It was so funny! haha!

On Sunday morning we went down to my sister Joyce's house and rented a duffy, which is a little boat that cruises around the harbor. It was such a nice day and Newport harbor was beautiful with some freakin' nice houses and yahts!

We decided to stay an extra day and drive home on Monday rather than Sunday and so we had the chance to see my brother David on Monday (he is a firefighter and was working all weekend) and took the kids to the park to play. Kellin had so much fun with his cousins and we got to celebrate David's birthday with them.


Cousin Becky, Kellin & Kade racing down the slide. Cousin Daniel & Ethan on the swings.

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend and we felt so, so blessed to get to see so much family and felt so loved by everyone. Sometimes it can be hard for me to have two families in a way, being adopted and still being involved with my birth family, but this weekend showed me what a blessing it is to have both families. I am so lucky to have so many people in my life that love & support me. I am also so grateful to both families for being so supportive of me being involved in each family. There have been times in my life where I have wished that I could have just grown up in a normal family but this weekend helped me to be more grateful for the blessing I have to have been adopted by a great family that supports me having a relationship with my birth family. I love you all and am so grateful for your love and support!

Twilight Movie

So last night I went with a few friends to see the midnight showing of Twilight. As most of you know I am a huge Twilight fan and have read all the books. So I just wanted to write my Twilight Movie Review. If you are planning to see the movie and don't want me to spoil it, don't read any further. If I were a movie critic, I would probably give the movie 2 1/2 out of 5 stars. First, what I enjoyed. I loved seeing the book come to life and I appreciated that for the most part the director stuck pretty much to the book. I love that the movie had some of my favorite lines from the book as dialogue in the movie. I was actually pretty impressed with Kristin Stewart who played Bella and although I still think they could've gotten a much better actor for Edward, I thought Robert Pattinson did an OK job, slightly better than what I was expecting. I really enjoyed the beginning of the movie and some of the end, however, the rest definaltely left something to be desired. The worst part of the movie (hands down) was the awful special effects. Edward is a vampire with super speed and strength and he can practically fly through the air when he runs and jumps. This movie did a horrible job at portraying it. It seriously was comical when they had the vampires run and jump. SO, SO fake. I also felt like it really missed at portraying the incredible love story that occurs between Edward & Bella. It all happened too fast and skipped over a lot of the best dialogue between them. Finally, I really wished they would have given the readers of the book a little more credit on the maturity side of things, even though this story is written for young adults, I think they could've made it for a more mature audience. I'm guessing that they will be making the rest of the books in this saga into movies and it makes me sad to think that this incredible series of books aren't going to become an incredible series of movies. At least not if they stick with the same director, same actors, same writing, etc. I think they could be so much more!!! Ditch the "teenager" audience and make the movies for adults, the teenagers will still come see them and they will be so much better! And, give the director more money to make the movies so the special effects are believable. Ok, done.

How Did You Feel Today

I started asking Kellin this at night when I put him to bed. We lay down together and talk about what made us feel happy, mad, sad, excited, etc. and why it made us feel that way. It has been a really fun bonding thing between us and he has actually said some really interesting things, some of the things he has said I didn't he realize he had noticed throughout the day, other things, like when he told me it made him feel sad when I yelled at him, really remind me that these little guys are sensitive to their environments and I need to be more careful when I get frustrated with something. I really like doing it though because I think it is good for Kellin to feel like he can talk to me about his feelings and know that if he tells me he felt mad or sad about something I did, I will listen to him and talk to him about what happened. Sometimes I explain to him why I got mad and let him know that sometimes we don't always handle our emotions in the right way. It gives me a chance to talk with him about the feelings we felt and apologize to him when I realize that I made him feel sad by getting angry with him. It is also really interesting to hear the kinds of things that make him feel happy, they are usually little things like teaching Ethan how to say bootie or taking Ethan for a ride in his truck. Anyways, I started a little list on the side of my blog, mostly for myself, to remember the things that Kellin (and Ethan in the future) tells me about how he feels. Hopefully this will help him to learn how to express his feelings in a healthy way and articulate himself to others.

Batty Bats

Halloween was great this year. Kellin & Ethan were both bats (Kellin knew he wanted to be a bat since November first of last year!). We had a lot of fun at his preschool Halloween party and trunk or treat. In the evening we went to the mall and did some more trick or treating and then went to the community center for their Halloween trunk or treat and spook alley. By 8 pm Ethan was done so I took him home and enjoyed passing candy out to trick or treaters while Kade stayed with Kellin and took him through the spook alley with some friends. Afterwards we had some friends over to our house for a little party. The kids played and the adults ate and talked. we had lots of fun. Kellin & I LOVE Halloween so we always have post-Halloween depression and are already thinking about next year. It's not so bad, we only have to wait 364 days.

A Historic Moment

Yesterday was truely a historic day for this country and I could feel it throughout the day. I was worried the lines might be long at the polls so I planned to go at 10 am and when I got there there was just a few people in line so I was able to vote very quickly. But the best part about going to vote was having Kellin & Ethan there with me & having the opportunity to explain to Kellin what I was doing. I told him that in America we get to choose who will be our President and who will lead our country. I explained to him that this is a very important thing that not everyone in the world gets to do and that even at times in this country, there were people who weren't allowed to vote because of their race or gender. I told him that I was so happy to get to vote and let my voice be heard. I was also so proud of Kade for going to the polls last night for the FIRST time in his life (crazy huh?).
As Kade and I watched the numbers come in for this election, we both could feel that something historic was happening. But, not only historic because Barack Obama is the first bi-racial president, but because so many people felt the spirit of democracy and so many young people participated in making their voice heard. For me, the historic moment was to see a CHANGE in politics, to see a leader be elected because of the strength of his character and not because he won the smear campaign. I admired the way he handled the attacks that came at him throughout this process and the way that he continually talks about unity and personal responsibility. His speech moved me. It moved me because he recognized that he can't do this on his own, that each of us play a role in our communities and families, that together, by doing our part, we can help our country rise above our current problems.
Lastly, I loved that he spoke directly to any person, organization, or country that would try to threaten us or attack us and told them point blank, "WE WILL DEFEAT YOU!" I hope that terrorists around the world heard this promise and know that we will not back down when it comes to defending civil liberties and democracy around the world. I am proud to be an American today, I am proud of this beautiful country we live in and I am thankful to be so blessed to raise my kids during this great time.

Halloween Pictures

Pictures

So I finally got the boys in for some pictures, the last ones I did were when Ethan was born so it was definitely time for some updated professional pictures. If you notice the small red scar on Ethan's face and are wondering what that is from it happened when he pulled the hot glue gun off the counter when Kellin & I were doing crafts. I was panicked when it happened & took him right in to the doctor. The doctor said it would take up to six months to totally heal! So, I could either wait till he was almost two to do pictures or just take ones with the scar. I think it's kinda cute, it will always remind me of my mischievous little boy and how he was always getting into things. I'm guessing this isn't the last scar he will have. Anyways, hope you enjoy the pics! Oh ya, and if you'd like to order any, follow this link: http://mystudio.kiddiekandids.com/viewinvite.aspx?c=022068768WJ7ZV2GT

Be Present

This past week I have had a couple of experiences that have really driven home the idea that I need to work on being present. The first was an Oprah show this week about a mom who drove to work one day as usual, went through out her entire day of work as usual and got ready to go home as usual. However, her day did not end as usual. That morning, her husband, who usually takes the kids to day care, had a dentist appointment and had asked his wife to take their daughter that day. Just as she was preparing to leave a co-worker came running into her office to tell her that she had left her daughter in the car ALL DAY!! When they ran out to the car, they found that her 2 year old daughter had died of heat stroke. Just writing this brings tears to my eyes. I can't imagine the horror and guilt of that mother, and I can't imagine the awful hours that poor little girl spent in the car as she died. On the show, they had other mothers talk about close calls that have happened in their lives with their kids because they are so overwhelmed with all of the things that we, as mothers, are trying to do. Trying to do for our kids, for our husbands, for our families, our friends, our church, etc. It made me think about my boys and about how sometimes I get so caught up in the everyday chores and activities that I forget to be present with my children. My mind seems to always be on the next thing that I need to get done. Even when I'm playing with the kids, in my mind I am thinking of the next thing I need to do, the dishes that need to be done, grocery shopping, finances, etc. That pre-occupation keeps me from being present and enjoying the moments I have with my kids and also makes it very easy for an accident to happen. Which brings me to my next experience this week. Yesterday morning Kade was watching conference and I was making breakfast. Kellin & Ethan were playing, or so I thought. All of a sudden I looked up from what I was doing to see Ethan pulling a large glass bowl out of the cabinet and I screamed as it shattered all over the kitchen floor. He was literally in the middle as shattered glass flew everywhere. I ran over to him praying that he didn't get cut by the glass. Luckily, he had just one small cut on his foot. It could have been much worse.
Later that day, during conference I was really touched by President Monson's talk about this same idea. About living in the here and now and enjoying the moments we have with our children while we still can. I especially loved the part where he said that the messes and fingerprints will dissappear all too soon and we will miss them dearly. I appreciated the reminder that what is most important in this life are the people we love, our children and our spouses, and that nothing comes before them. I know how easy it is to get caught up in being the super mom, doing everything we can for our kids and for our husbands, but I think that if I can just try to be present with my children & my husband, the rest just really doesn't matter so much.

Kellin Playing Soccer

Or maybe I should call this post "Kellin playing in the soccer goal" or "Kellin picking his nose while playing soccer" or maybe "Kellin doesn't really like soccer yet". Kade & I just sat on the sidelines laughing as Kellin played. Notice how far back he runs to kick the ball in! He would run for like three steps and then stop, look around, do some spins, chase his coach, pick his nose, pick a wedgie, etc. The cutest part I thought was Ethan yelling "Go, Go, Go" in the background. For the record, Kellin hasn't been to a practice yet. The first practice we spent driving around in the car for 45 minutes looking for the dang school (how am I supposed to know where the elementary schools are!) and the second practice, which I thought started at six, ended just as we pulled up. I guess I'm not so good at this "soccer mom" thing yet. Oh well, there's always baseball.

Ethan Eating

I think we should enter Ethan in an eating contest...seriously does he even chew it???

Meet Demetri

The newest member of our family is fluffy, fiesty, and...um...fluffy. A couple of months ago my sister, Shelley, asked if we could "adopt" their pet cat since they were moving and couldn't have the cat in their new home. It took a lot of manipulation on my part ("C'mon Kade, the boys would really love a cat"; "We'll do all the work"; "You won't even notice him around") to get Kade to agree to the cat and three weeks ago we brought our new pet home. He is gorgeous, the prettiest cat I've ever seen and so far he has been lots of fun. Kellin chases him around the house constantly but it's Ethan who has actually managed to get a hold of him a couple of times and once Ethan has a grip, he doesn't let go. He's come away with a few handfuls of cat hair!! Kellin loves to hold him & pet him but when Demetri is sitting in this one spot on our couch he doesn't like to be touched. It's really weird. If anyone tries to touch him while he's up there, he attacks!! Kinda freaky. At night Demetri likes to sleep in our bed, which is fine as long as he stays at the foot of the bed. Sometimes he likes to crawl all the way up to the top of the bed and lick our heads while we sleep. Again, kinda weird. Anyways, just thought I post a picture or two of our feline friend.

Jack Johnson Concert

for Kade's birthday this year I got him tickets to the Jack Johnson concert - we had a great time! Kade has been a big fan of his for a while and I have really come to like his music a lot as well. He did a great job, one of the few concerts I have been to where I can say that he sounded just as good in concert as on his CD's, if not better. We had a lot of fun with our friends who also had tickets, Tyler, Angela, Keith & Nate. Love you guys!

Ethan Turns One!

Ethan getting ready to dive into his birthday cake - I think the cousins had a harder time keeping their hands out of the cake than he did!

Sweet baby Ethan giving daddy a taste of the cake - he always loves to share his food and anything he has in his hand! So cute!

We celebrated his birthday in Springville with Kade's family. We had a really nice time visiting and Kellin & Ethan had SO much fun with their Aunts & Uncles, Cousins and especially their Grandma & Pops!! Here he is opening a present with them.

I just wanted to write a few little things about Ethan since I use this blog as a family album/journal/scrapbook. I have loved watching his personality develop over the past year, he his such a sweet baby, always greeting us with a huge smile and full of love. Recently, he has started hugging me back when I hug him, he will snuggle into me and pat my back as I pat his. I call it "lovey" and I swear it is one of my favorite moments of everyday. He is also an incredibly curious and adventurous little man. He is all over the house, up the stairs, under the bed, in the closet, cabinets, fridge, etc. He also loves to be around people, in fact, he cries, no, he screams, as soon as he realizes he has been left alone in a room. But, if there is someone with him, he will play happily for hours. At his most recent doctor's appointment, he was in the 90th percentile for height & weight, as he has been pretty much since he was born. He is very tall! He is just learning to walk, taking a few fast steps before he falls down. Kade has been working with him on walking & gets so excited when he takes a few steps, it is so fun to watch. I remember that I really wanted a girl when I got pregnant the second time, and although I still really want a girl, I can see that Ethan is exactly what our family needed and he has brought so much joy into our home already. I just love him to pieces!

First Day of Preschool

Kellin started his second year of preschool this month and was so excited. He is going to preschool at the new community/rec center here in Saint George. Our good friend Amy is the preschool coordinator and has put together a great cirriculum for them. He gets to do a variety of learning centers with music movement, learning rhythm and singing, jiu-jitsu, gymnastics, swimming and PE. His good friends Kaden & Kaley & Aiden are in the preschool with him so he has a blast every day. I also started "working" in the preschool with him just for and hour or so on Monday, Wednesday & Friday. In exchange, he gets free preschool & Ethan gets free day care at the community centers' day care. It has been fun to try something new with working in the preschool and I can't believe how challenging it can be to get 21 4-year-olds to sit still and walk in a line! But, I am having a great time with it and really working on learning more preschool songs to sing with the kids. I'm also looking for good books to read with the kids at the end of the day before dismissal, so if any of you have favorite books that you'd like to recommend, I love to hear about them! One last note on Kellin starting preschool - I can't believe that at this time next year he will be going to kindergarten - it is really freaking me out!!

Breaking Dawn

I just finished reading the last book in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn, and I am so sad. So sad it is over. So mad, so mad I read it way, way, way too fast. So happy, so happy everything I wanted to happen, happened. Now I have three long months of waiting, waiting for the Twilight movie to come out (which comes out on my birthday!!) for my next "fix". I just have to say that if anyone reading this blog has even the slightest interest in reading, I recommend this series, it is so much fun to read and so fun to become completely lost in this magical, thrilling world. I know I sound like a complete nerd, and I guess, somewhere inside of me, a huge nerd lives who LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to read and really wishes vampires were real, at least vampires like Edward & Bella.
PS - I can hear Kade laughing already as he reads this blog! Laugh away, honey, laugh away!! Haha!

Family Condo Trip

This past week we took a trip with my family to our San Clemente, CA condo because it was one of a few chances to see my sister Emily & her daughter Noelle who live in Alabama. She was visiting for a friends wedding so we met her in San Clemente. It was a great opportunity for most of the family to get together and let the cousins play together. Kade wasn't able to come due to work, and we REALLY wished he was there. We had a great time going to the beach, talking, watching movies and letting the kids play. I am so happy that our family has this great condo to be able to create so many lasting memories - it provides such an awesome opportunity for us all to meet up and re-connect, especially with all of us spread out between California, Nevada, Utah & Alabama.

Kellin at the beach in San Clemente, CA. He loves to play on the shore & sand but didn't really like going out any further - Grandpa took him out there but Kellin wouldn't let Grandpa put him down. Although I can't really say that I blame him, the first day at the beach it was Red Flag which means stong undercurrents and rip tides as well as BIG waves!

Mommy & Ethan keeping out of the sun - Ethan loved the swings at the beach and getting his feet wet in the water. He did have to spend most of his time in his stroller though because otherwise he would eat mouthfulls of sand. He was well taken care of though, everyone LOVED Ethan and kept playing with him and making him laugh all day long.

Grandpa pushing Kellin & cousin Aubrey on the swings at the San Clemente park. Kellin was being "camera shy" so I could only get a shot of the top of his head.

Ethan had fun playing at the park as well, that is until he concked out in the swing!

Kellin loved playing with all of his cousins, especially his cousin Whitney - she shares his sense of "mischevious" adventure and they love to instigate fun together.

Summertime Fun!

July has been a great month full of all things decidedly summer!! We have spent more time in the water or near water or on water than I can keep track of but I guess that's the only thing to do here in 100+ degree weather. It seems just about everyday includes some type of swimming/water play activity. One of our favorite places to go to beat the heat is up to Pine Valley which is about a 45 minute drive from here out past Snow Canyon & Dammeron Valley. It is BEAUTIFUL and COOL with lots of trees and shade. And, it's the only place we've been fishing at that we actually catch fish - well except me. Kade & Kellin caught 7 fish this last trip and Kellin caught his fish all by himself thanks to his Pops (Grandpa Ken) teaching him all about fishing. Everytime he was reeling in a fish, he kept repeating over and over, "slow & steady, slow & steady". As for me & Ethan, we just enjoyed the cool breeze and shared some goldfish crackers & warm milk!

Surgery

Kellin before the surgery - looking for Transformers on the TV.

So for most of you, I'm sure having your child to the hospital in nothing new - I know my sister Emily has had her kids there many times, and I assume it's the same for most moms, at least a few trips to the hospital. For me, it was the first time having one of my kids to the hospital for surgery and it was hard. I think mostly because I have only been in the hospital once (aside from my deliveries, of course) and have never been "put under". Kellin was diagnosed with sleep apnea and when we took him to the specialist he said that he had never seen tonsils so big, he was surprised Kellin could eat! So we scheduled him to have his tonsils & adnoids out. Kade was great with Kellin, and talked with Kellin about what would happen for a few days before he actually went in and it helped a lot that Kade has been through this a couple times before with nose & knee surgeries. Kellin was very brave at the hospital and they gave him some medicine to settle him down so they could do the IV which made him "drunk" as they said. He was so funny on the medicine and started singing songs we've never heard of and smiling lots and telling us how much he loved us - "as big as kamerica" as he says. I was really nervous and kept hearing the anestesiologist say that although death is unlikely it is estimated to happen in about every 1 in 100,000 patients. Great, so what if Kellin is the 1! Which is weird because I'm not a "what if" type of person usually, but I couldn't shake the feeling. So I carried a silent prayer in my heart through the hospital just to remind God how important Kellin is to me and that I really would be very, very angry if something happened to him (understatement). The surgery was done before I knew it and they brought Kellin down to the recovery room - and then the fun began. He was yelling and screaming and thrashing around, trying to pull the IV out and really completely inconsolable. This went on for almost an hour and again, I was so blessed to have Kade there because he stayed calm and worked to settle Kellin down. I just cried at seeing my little guy so upset. Finally the nurse cleared us to leave and took the IV out. Once we were in the car Kellin settled down and it has been smooth sailing since. His voice sounds very different which the doctor said would happen since he doesn't have these huge tonsils in his throat anymore. Last night Kellin wanted to sleep with us and usually we don't let him because he snores so loud that neither of us can sleep. So I decided to try it and see if the surgery fixed that and sure enough, we were all asleep in a few minutes in silence. I just have to say that I feel so much more now for parents who have to have their children in the hospital and my heart really goes out to those of you who have.

Dance, Dance, Dance

Sorry about the sideways filming - I guess you can't rotate videos like you can pictures! If anyone knows how, let me know.

4th of July

Usually we go to my parents condo in San Clemente for the 4th but with gas prices so high we opted for a closer location this year. Lake Powell is about a 2 hour drive from here and some friends of ours we camping and boating out there and invited us along. Our friends were the Mower family and Tyler & Angela. They went up a few days earlier and camped through the weekend but we didn't think Ethan would fare so well camping (he's grumpy if he doesn't get his 15+ hours of sleep a day) so we just drove up Friday morning & came back Friday night. We had a blast boating and hanging out. Kellin was a little fish the whole day and spent most of the time in the water which was great because it kept him cool and having fun. He also loved to go for rides on the Seadoo's, especially with Keith - apparently mom & dad weren't nearly as fun! Ethan did great as well, so much better than I thought he would. He was pretty content to hang out in his stroller or sit with me on the Seadoo or play on the boat. He went in the water a couple of times but kept trying to drink the gross lake water and eat the floating wood chips. We didn't really see any fireworks though, so the next night we had some friends over and did fireworks at our house. All in all, it was a good 4th of July, although we missed spending it with my family at the Condo. I didn't dare bring my camera to the lake so no pictures this year.

Happy 4th Birthday Kellin

The kids included Josh, Briar & Aiden, Toby & Tray, Anniston & Camden, Kaden & Kaley, and Kellin's cousin Carson.

Kellin turned 4 on Saturday but we celebrated his birthday on Friday with a Wall-e themed party, a pinata, cake, presents and then took Kellin and his friends to see the new Disney Wall-e movie. It was a chaotic party with 11 kids running wild all over the house. Kellin was especially excited and energetic (a nice way of saying he was bouncing off the walls) and I am surprised we only had one cup of root beer spill and no broken bones. Whenever the kids come over to the house their favorite thing to do is throw all the cushions from our upstairs couch down on the landing on the stairs and then jump from the top of the stairs down into the big pile of cushions! I swear one of these days a head is going to go right through the wall. Anyways, after all the kids arrived we took them outside to do a pinata and since we don't have a big tree in our yard Kade had to hold the pinata from the ladder (kinda ghetto but it worked). Kellin knocked most of the candy out of the pinata on the first round so the rest of the kids just took turns whacking the pinata with the bat. Then we came inside for cake & presents and I grabbed the camera in time to snap a couple shots. We then took all the kids to the movie theatre where we had to stand in a crowded line for 45 minutes for the movie to start. It was a little crazy but I think it was more the adults that were annoyed rather than the kids. The movie was really cute and all the kids sat really well throughout the whole movie. I was impressed. Overall, I think it went pretty well and I think the kids had fun.
On a related note, I have this idea about birthdays with my kids. As I was planning this one I was spending the money for the party including buying the tickets, decorations, cake, etc. and then remembered that I still needed to get Kellin a birthday present from us. But then I thought that it might be a good idea to just give my kids the option of either getting a present from mom & dad or getting a party from mom & dad, but not both. So this year we decided that Kellin's present would be the party and that in the future we will just let our kids choose between having the party be their present or getting a present. What do you think?

Motherly Instinct

This past weekend we went to Lake Powell with some friends - we had lots of fun camping and boating. On Saturday we were out on the boat pulling the kids around on the tubes. We had two tubes being pulled behind the boat and Kellin was out on one of the tubes with two other kids. At the last second I decided to jump on the other tube, called the "death biscuit" with another girl. The tube Kellin was on could seat three people and they are sitting up against a little back rest. Just as the boat was starting to pull us to get going I looked over to check on Kellin and saw that the rope was pulling the front of the tube down into the water. The tube did a nose dive under water and three kids fell off. My motherly instincts kicked in and told me to jump off my tube and swim over to Kellin to make sure he was okay being in the big lake. As I was swimming over to them I could only see the other two boys that were on the tube and couldn't see Kellin anywhere. My heart started racing and I swam as fast as I could around the tube looking for him. I found him trapped under the tube struggling to get his head above water. I grabbed him and pulled him up with shaking hands. He was a little shaken up but fine and just had this shocked look on his face. Once we got back onto the boat Kellin said he wanted to go tubing again but then I think his nerves kicked in and he decided he was too scared to go back out there again. He sat on my lap the rest of the time and eventually fell asleep. He didn't really go in the water much the rest of the trip, poor kid. I was so glad though that I had jumped in after him because I got to him much faster than if I had waited. I'm so grateful for that little voice inside me that tells me when something is wrong. I will never doubt that motherly instinct - somehow a mother always knows, and it really is such a beautiful and amazing thing.
On another note, we left Ethan with a friend for the weekend because we didn't think he would fare too well in the 100+ degree weather especially with nothing but rocks and dirt to crawl around on. We really missed our little chunk-a-monk while we were gone and were greeted with a huge smile and happy giggles when we picked him up. He is such a sweet little baby.

"Just tell Your Wife to Mind her own Business"

So yesterday evening I had a crazy experience. I was playing on our front lawn with Kellin when I heard shouting coming from the house across the street. I walked over to the side of the house to get a look at what was going on and saw a man and a woman yelling at a younger man. The older man had apparently been doing some yard work and was holding a rake. As the two men were yelling at each other the older man ran at the younger man and literally bashed him in the face with the end of the rake!!! I did the first thing that came to my mind which was to start screaming at the top of my lungs "STOP!! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW OR I'M CALLING THE COPS!!!" I then ordered Kellin into the house to get Kade and get a phone and continued to scream that they'd better stop or I was calling 911. The woman yelled back at me to mind my own business as the younger man walked around to get in his car. There was something on the top of his car that he grabbed and threw at the older man. I screamed again at the younger man "GET IN YOUR CAR AND DRIVE AWAY RIGHT NOW OR I'M CALLING THE COPS!!" And luckily he got in his car and after a few explicit profanities drove off. The woman kept yelling at me to mind my own business and I yelled back at her "IF IT HAPPENS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD AROUND MY KIDS, IT'S MY BUSINESS!!!" Finally, Kade came out and asked if everything was okay, to which the woman again yelled, "Tell your wife to mind her own business" to which I of course yelled back "IT IS MY BUSINESS WHEN IT HAPPENS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD AROUND MY KIDS!" My hands were shaking for the next 15 minutes as I walked back into the house and locked all the doors. My heart was pounding as I tried to calm down not only because I was scared but also because I was ticked! How dare that woman tell me it's not my business! I have been thinking about it since and wanted to throw this question out - when is it our business and when should we stay out of it? Should I have just grabbed Kellin and came into the house? Or did I do the right thing by getting involved? I have to believe that I did the right thing by getting involved because who knows what else would have happened? But then I was worried all night that they might come over and do something to our house or yell at me the next time I see them out. But who cares right? If we tolerate that kind of stuff in our neighborhoods or just look away when we see something bad happening we are contributing to the problem. My reaction was immediate and almost instinctual, and I guess that is probably just the way I was raised, to speak up when I see something wrong. I'm curious though, what would you have done??

Follow-Up on our "Pets"

Since I last wrote about our "pets" we had two caterpillars, several tadpoles, and a fish. Well, I'm happy to report that the caterpillar did transform but sadly not into a butterfly, instead into an ugly little moth and then died since we didn't know what to feed it. I'm also happy to report that a few of the tadpoles did turn into frogs, but met the same fate as the moth, probably also because I didn't really know what to feed them. On the other hand, Kellin loved feeding our fish, and would feed him tons of fish food every day. So would all of his friends that came over and sadly, our fish also died, not of starvation but of "stuff-vation". So, now we just have a bunch of empty fish bowls and frog containers - death traps for any little critter that comes to live with us!
Things have been pretty quiet around our house the last few weeks, just settling into summer and trying to keep myself and the kids from going crazy around the house all day long. I try to get a few activities planned each week so I don't wake up Monday morning with 5 long days stretched out in front of me with nothing to do besides house chores and errands. But with gas prices so high, anything outside a 5 mile radius is pretty much out of the question. I keep trying to think of alternate forms of transportation to cut on our gas usage. The only options I can think of are riding my bike with the kids in the bike stroller - which I guess might work for little errands but just seems torturous when the temperature is starting to reach into the mid-nineties. I have also considered using the public bus system - it just seems like it would take so much longer and I'm also a little worried about the type of crowd bus travel attracts. I know that sounds judgemental and snobby, but my bus experiences up to this point have included a singing Mexican and a ranting Hawaiian. So that pretty much leaves me stuck at home or paying $4.15/gal for gas. What to do???

California Trip Slide Show

We had a fantastic trip to California last week with our good friends Barry & Britney Fell and their two beautiful girls Addy & Lauren. We stayed at my parents condo is San Clemente and although the weather was unseasonably cold we had a great time. We did one day at Disneyland (that was all we could handle of theme parks) and also spent one day at the Long Beach Aquarium and in Hollywood. We tried a few times to do a beach day and probably looked like the craziest tourist down at the beach in 60 degree, cloudy, cold weather but we didn't care and neither did the kids. Kellin & Addy had tons of fun playing together and are just the cutest little pair ever. Whenever they were walking side by side they would take each others' hand - so, so, so cute!!! Ethan & Lauren have some bonding to do still - so far their relationship consists of hair pulling & bonks to the head but I'm sure they'll work things out! We owe a huge THANK YOU to my parents for letting us use the condo and also a huge thanks to my sister Vivian for letting us use her car so we could all ride together. And just a little shout out to our great friends Barry & Britney - we love you guys and had a great time, can't wait to do it again!!