May 2021

Camping in Heber

We bought a new trailer a few months ago and we were excited to take it out.  We wanted to be close to town in case of forgetting anything or something to go wrong.  So we went to a camp spot in Heber.  It was super close to town and a really nice RV park with lots of extra fun things like a pool, basketball court, fire pits and more.  My parents came with us and brought their RV and their side by side machines.  We  stayed just two nights, but we had fun going on some rides and swimming the first day and the next day the boys went golfing and my mom and I and Harper went to breakfast and did a little shopping.  We spent more time just hanging around the campsite, more swimming, more rides and visiting Rems brother Russell and his family for a little bit since they live so close.  It was a fun and short camping trip.  But we were able to make a list of things we needed to stock in our trailer.  We can't wait to go out again!

Paxton's Piano Recital

Happy 8th birthday Graham!

Graham's birthday was on a Saturday so he woke up to all his presents and then Graham and I and Harper (he wanted her to come) went to Kneaders for a yummy birthday/Mother's day breakfast.  I want to make this a tradition since his birthday will always be so close or even on Mother's day.  A little later that day he got to go shopping with Grandma and Grandpa Moss to pick out his own birthday present.  While he was gone we made a few changes to his room because he's been asking for a panda room.  When he got home he came into his room and was sooo excited for all the new panda stuff, he was a happy boy.  

Then Grandpa and Grandma ordered in some Chinese dinner so he could use his new chopsticks he got for his birthday.  After dinner we went ice skating as a family.  It was so cute to see the tiniest skates on Harper and have her ride around on a seal on the ice.  The boys had fun taking turns pushing her.  It was a good day!

Happy Mother's Day

I'm so lucky to have all these amazing women in my life and for the wonderful examples they are to me.  I'm especially grateful for my own mother and for the close friendship we have and for how much she supports me and loves me.  

We had a fun day celebrating, having a yummy dinner, going on golf cart rides in the backyard and playing with cousins.  I'm so grateful for all these people in my life.

We celebrated Graham with the family on Mother's Day.  I just bought this ice cream cake and added a few things to it to make it into a panda cake, he loved it!

Graham's Party

Graham had his birthday party at Get Air.  He invited about 8 friends and we let Paxton invite he friend Kai.  This was such an easy party to plan, they had a blast jumping around and then we gathered them all for pizza that the place provided, after he opened presents and then I brought another panda cake.  After they jumped until the parents came to pick them up.  He had so much fun.  I love watching Graham enjoy his friends and go crazy.

Jr. Jazz basketball

Paxton sure loves his basketball and I love watching him do what he loves most.

Harper

Harper has refused to take naps for a while now, but she still gets tired and some days we find her in the most random places snoozing away.  The thing I love most is how she crosses her legs.

When I found her asleep on the stairs I was unsure whether to move her or not.  She was only about 3 stairs up from the bottom so I decided to leave her, but grabbed a bunch of pillows and blankets just in case she rolled off the stair.

Fun Fit Run

These kids are getting too fast for me and I can't keep up with them.  Graham is my runner and loves it, Paxton not so much.  It was good that he had a friend to run with that motivated him to keep going!  I helped out with having a water stop in front of my house that the kids could just grab a quick drink and keep going.  I'm proud of these kids for running the full 2 miles!

Graham got an Award!

Every year the school does an awards ceremony for each grade.  They only invite the parents whose kids are getting an award, not every kid gets an award.  When I got the email for me to come I was unsure that they sent it to the right person, my kids just don't usually get awards at this ceremony especially Graham because with getting him diagnosed for ADD this year he has really been falling behind.  But getting him on some meds to help him focus has really helped and it showed!  I'm so proud of him for getting the Principal's Award for Effort and Responsibility.  He really is a good kid and wants to do good.

Learning to Fish

Murray Rec Center offered some fishing lessons for kids this spring so I decided to sign my boys up even though we don't go fishing ourselves, but they love to go with Grandpa.  It was a nice program to get them outside at a beautiful park.  Paxton was glad to have some friends to hang out with because it did get a little boring.  On the last day they had just stocked the pond with more fish so finally Paxton got one!  He was excited and decided that he loved going after all.

Dinner and Magic Show

My parents treated us adults to dinner and Magic Show at Gardner Village.  Ben, Erika and Dan were unable to come so they invited the 3 oldest grand kids.  But we decided to bring Graham to this one because Paxton recently got to go to Les Mis with us, plus Graham is way more into magic than Pax.  It sure was fun to have him there with us and the dinner and show was amazing!  We had a really good time.

Activity Days

I love being a leader to these cute activity day girls.  Sometimes I even bring Harper with me and she loves it so much and the girls love having her there!  We read a story about a jelly fish and made our own with some yummy treats.

April 2021

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny hid the kids baskets this year.  They had fun looking for them and seeing what they got.  They each got a clothing item, a book, sunglasses, a hammock and some treats.  After all the morning fun we went to church, talked about Christ and the Resurrection.  Then when we got home there was Easter Eggs hidden all over the front yard and the kids went crazy picking them all up.  We then got some cute and silly pictures and the kids ate some candy.  Then we colored some eggs and had egg salad sandwiches for lunch.

Later we went to Grandpa and Grandma Moss' for Easter dinner and another Easter Egg hunt.  They have a huge backyard so it takes a little longer to find all the eggs, plus the kids each get a different color so they have to search a little harder and not just pick up the first eggs they see.

I sure love this little family of mine and I'm so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and his example and I know that we will live again with Him.

Les Miserables

The day finally came that we got to go see Les Mis.  We went with Jamie and Dan and it was so fun to take Paxton with us.  I love that he loves the music and understands it.  He even teared up when Javert committed suicide, he was feeling all the feels.  It was a good teaching moment after the play to talk about things.  He really enjoyed going with us and Rem and I enjoyed it too.

I love watching these big brothers play with their little sisters, it's adorable and so helpful!

Paxton and Harper have a special relationship, I sure love it.

Lilo

Our poor Lilo dog is getting sicker and sicker.  She's not eating well anymore and she's throwing up more often.  She's gotten really skinny too.  We finally got her in to see the vet after quite a wait and she was in advanced kidney failure.  It was a hard decision, but we felt it was best for her to have her put down.  She just seemed miserable and the vet didn't give us much hope of her getting better long term.  She was getting old anyways so we put her down on April 13, it was a sad day.  We let the kids all say their goodbyes and Rem and I took her to the vet at the end of the day.  We sure will miss our sweet Lilo!

Sunday dinners with cousins at Grandpa and Grandma Moss'.

Harper loves to climb in and out of the doggy door, silly girl.

Harper got this cute outfit from her friend Jules and she had the same one so naturally we had to get some twinning pictures!

March 2021

Harper turns 2!

We had so much fun celebrating this little girl!  We started off with a few presents in the morning before her brothers had to go to school.  She got a baby doll and cradle that she absolutely loved!  Then I took her to the aquarium with my neighbor Annie and her little girl, Jules.  Harper loved the aquarium and looking at all the fish.  I think one of her favorites was watching the penguins.  One kept swimming right up to her.  When exiting the aquarium you have to go through the gift shop and as we did Harper reached out and grabbed this pink penguin and snuggled right into it.  How could I say no on her birthday?!  Her friend Jules ended up getting the exact one.  

Later that day when the boys got home from school we went to the new movie Raya and the Lost Dragon as a family, Grandpa and Grandma Moss came also.  Harper did really well sitting through the movie.  It was so cute to see her really light up and get so excited at the end of the movie when all the dragons came out and were flying around.  After the movie we grabbed some dinner and ate at home.  We then had her open the last of her presents and then had cake and ice cream.  It was adorable watching her try to blow out her candles, we definitely had to help her out.  And then she leaned in for a lick and a bite before we had time to cut the cake.  It was a great day celebrating our Harper!

On Sunday we celebrated with my family and my parents got Harper this fun scooter ride.  She was so excited!  I love watching her excitement, it's so cute!

Paxton got invited to go camping with his Grandpa, Uncle Trev and his cousins Jake and Kaleb.  It's always a good time for him and the boys.  

With Paxton and Harper's birthdays being in March I decided to do a family celebration for the both of them.  We did it on pie day and had pie and of course, Paxton's favorite, donuts.  I started feeling really sick the night before so we decided we couldn't have the party with me feeling this way.  So instead we did it Covid Style and had family still come and visit the kids outside while I viewed from a distance.  The kids loved having their cousins come visit and bring them presents.  We did the dessert to go instead.

I'm glad we were able to still celebrate Paxton and Harper.

Paxton turns 11!  Happy St. Paxton's Day!

I can't believe how big this kid is growing.  He is such a good kid and we sure love his smile and personality.  He is getting harder and harder to know what to buy for him.  We decided to get him a ticket to Les Miserables to join Rem and I.  He was super excited and he loved all the candy on the candy poster we gave him to tell him about the ticket.

After school Paxton invited his best buddy, Kai to go to Classic Fun Center and do all the things.  They had a super fun time and afterwards we took them to Chuck-a-Rama for dinner.  It's always fun having a birthday on St. Patrick's day, most everyone wears green and it's even more fun when your best friend shows up in almost the exact same shirt as you!

Build a Bear

My mom started a tradition to take the grandkids to get a build a bear for Valentines day at an age they were ready for it.  With sicknesses, it got pushed to March until we got to go.  These kids were so fun to watch pick out their animals and get them dressed.   Harper picked a bunny and of course she wanted an Elsa dress to put on her so it was only fitting to put the "Let it Go" song inside.  She loves her Elsa bunny!

Ice Skating 

I'm the activity days leader for the youth in my ward so I planned an ice skating activity.  They all loved it so much and didn't want to leave.  Some of them struggled with getting on the ice at first, but towards the end most of them had it down pretty good.  I was proud of them for getting out there.

Spring Break in St. George

We planned a week in St. George with our good friends, the Goodmans.  They came and stayed with us at my grandma's place.  Usually when we go to St. George it's just for a quick weekend get away, but this time we got to stay for a week so we planned some different fun things that we've never done before and a few of the usual things.  We played outside a lot, went to a couple of parks and saw grandma and grandpa Sorenson, we went to this cool place called Glitter Mountain where you could dig up quartz.  Our friends dug up a ton of it and brought it home with them.  It was really pretty, but I don't know what they are going to do with all of it.  We went to Sand Hallow one day and played in the sand mostly.  Paxton and Linley were brave enough to go out into the water for a bit and Bobby brought his metal detector and they found a bunch of garbage.  We buried Max and Graham in the sand and then later Paxton went with Bobby and his kids to do some rock jumping, Rem and I took Graham and Harper home, they were done.

 

I really wanted to go to Zions National Park, I've only ever driven through it.  But unfortunately with Covid they made you reserve a spot on the shuttle to get into the park and they were booked within seconds and we didn't get in.  So instead Bobby found us another idea, we drove a couple hours to Nevada and went to Cathedral Gorge State Park.  It was so worth the drive!  It was perfect, not busy at all and so fun to explore.  It was hot outside, but then you'd explore into these slot canyons and it would get kind of cold.  We all loved it!  Then we drove a bit further to this natural warm springs.  The dads and the kids got in the water and were loving it.  The water was so clear and they swam with the fishes.  This would definitely be a spot we would come back to.

This was a cool place for some panoramic pictures.

It was our 16th anniversary so Rem and I and Bobby and Jill left Paxton and Linley in charge of the kids while we went out to dinner.  It was pretty busy so we were gone for a little while and we got a text from Linley that things weren't going super great.  Apparently Harper had a poopy diaper and I forgot to tell them where the wipes were.  But they figured things out and ended up giving Harper a bath and got her in her pajamas.  I was impressed with Paxton for doing that.  It was nice to get out with just the adults.