Wes Turned 7...along time ago!

This is only 8 months late! Wes turned 7 in January, he LOVES his birthday. I get excited for my kids birthdays too, but it means they are getting bigger and aren't my babies anymore.

Wes got ready for school so fast on his big day so he would have time to play video games. I think that was the best part of his day!

Wes and his best friend Karsen are "secret brothers". Those boys are 2 peas in a pod. They gave their 1st grade teacher a run for her money!

Kazden and Kosner have moved to Arizona since his birthday. Wes misses them like crazy. He tried to be like those brothers (which was great, they're such good boys!).

I couldn't post anything without a silly face of Brooke's. This girl is a hoot!

Wes wanted a Monster Jam court cake. I had great intentions for it. The crushed cookies were the dirt and in the middle was supposed to be a jump. Well, it looked more like a cow patty than anything. My frosting wasn't thick enough and lost all shape!

Here's Wes' party group (Dave with the Zeta's). There's Kazden, Kosner, Karsen, Steph, Dave, Me, Brooke, Wes, Tausha, Kinzie, Kooper, and Taylor. We went to Brick Oven for dinner. He was so embarrassed when they sang to him! I love it. I can hardly believe in a few short months Wes will be 8 years old! I wouldn't trade him for the world.

Happy Birthday Seaka!

Happy 3rd Birthday baby girl! I can't believe that 3 years have gone by already. Time goes by way too fast, I wish it would slow down so we could enjoy it more. You are such a fun little girl, I am so lucky to be your mom, I love every minute.
As many know, I was very excited to see you during delivery! And look how cute you are! You came into the world on the exact day that I wanted you to come, you were so thoughtful! Thank you.

From the very second Dad saw you, you have had him wrapped around your finger. he loves you so much and will do anything for you. I don't know if that is such a good thing! Wes is a proud big brother too, he loves you.

I am sorry you are so sick on your birthday! We will have your party another day when you fell better. She wouldn't even open this present. She asked me to open it for her. How sad is that?

Earlier in the day, she found enough energy to open a couple of presents. It only lasted about 5 minutes and then she was back to being held again.

Wes gave her a Strawberry Shortcake DVD, her favorite!

Dave gave her a necklace, she whispered (with all the voice she had), "Ahh, my favorite!"

I think from this picture you can tell that she likes the necklace. Way to go Dad.


We sang Happy Birthday to her again and she smiled the whole time. Then she fell into my lap to be held. Poor thing. I had no idea croupe would do this to her!

Clark Griswold

Thanks Clarky, I love it. Next year will you please, pretty please, do the tree again? I will let you buy a wreath for above the garage.


Bethany: Is your house on fire, Clark?
Clark Griswold: No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights.


Ellen: Clark, Audrey's frozen from the waist down.
Clark Griswold: That's all part of the experience, honey.




Here's a picture of the first Christmas we lived in our house. Look how far Clark has come! We had a couple of really bad years in between. But look how cool the tree looks. It had 2,000 lights on it when he was finished. He had to go back to the store 3 times to buy more and more lights! The tree has grown a couple of feet since then and he refuses to put lights on again. Even the neighbors are asking for the lights.



We had so many compliments on this tree. Ahhh.....

The Sun Went Down Too Early

I wanted to go take pictures of the kids before the snow comes, but I didn't think the sun started to go down before 5pm! I wanted a different park, but didn't have enough light to get there, so we ended up at this one again. If it isn't snowing tomorrow, I'm taking them again!

I think Wes is so cute with all his front teeth growing in. He's lost 5 and his 6th is just about to come out. He's got a goofy grin now!

Brooke is my ballerina. I tried to get her to be still and sit down, didn't work! I had to get some ribbon to tie around her shoes to keep them on her feet. They are about half a size too big and she can't walk in them without them coming off her feet, she insists on wearing them. The ribbon works great!

This spot is really pretty when the sun is just beginning to set and coming through the trees in the back ground and it glows. Oh well! I missed it.

She was fascinated by the water and I would have freaked out if she'd gotten wet or dirty in her outfit. Especially if it isn't snowing tomorrow!

So stinkin' cute.

She had to pose like this, there was no stopping her for a few frames, so I told Wes to go for it with her! You might as well join in the fun!

She found a root that had popped up out of the ground that she called a "baby one" that she wanted to sit on. She's very insistent. So until she got to sit on it, we didn't get to do anything else, so here's the picture we came up with from her "baby one".

There was a group of guys playing ultimate Frisbee there and their Frisbee went into the water. The kids watched the water rippling for a long time, so I finally just took a picture and I kinda like it, although I wish I could see some of Brooke's face.

Random Thoughts

Here are a few random thoughts for you to enjoy!

It's my Birthday

This is what I look liked when I turned 32. I keep laughing every time I look at this picture. We can thank Andy for this shot, he was the photographer! No, this is not my baby, she is my niece that I want so bad!!

DON'T DIE DAVE

The past couple of years our Christmas lights have been a joke. Like every 4th one worked and they were not straight at all. So this year we measured exactly where we wanted the lights to go and went and had the lights cut to fit perfectly. Then we picked the right pattern of lights to screw in and Dave spent a couple hours on the roof. This edge scared him the most. He had sweat all over his forehead and it was kinda chilly out! He kept telling me he was going to slide off the roof and die, so I had to run in and get my camera and take one last picture so the kids could remember him.

He finally decided that he could reach up from the bay window below instead of hanging over the edge to get the corner. It worked a lot better.

Work it.

First Grade Thanksgiving Program

The first graders did a great job memorizing poems and songs for all the parents. They were so cute. We also decided the children from our neighborhood are the cutest. Is that bad?

Twilight

Hmm, what can I say about the movie? Just go see it for yourself. For me the events leading up to it were way more fun. Going out to dinner with Becky and her bowling league and with my Zeta's were tons more entertaining. we once again stopped by a Chevron to pick up a drink and were mockingly harassed by Bruno, the gas station man. We on the other hand could do nothing right in there. Steph threw her money, literally, at him. I couldn't count, and I think Tausha did everything right. She's such a great caretaker. We left, and were forced to go right back in so Steph could get a cup of water. A cup is $0.16 just so you know.

After Bruno made Steph pay for her cup of tap water, we made him take a picture with us, just to humiliate him. He didn't want his picture taken, well too bad Bruno. Try smiling and not charging.

Silly Seaka

Brooke's new favorite thing is to make silly faces. She makes all kinds of faces. Wes will try to copy them and doesn't even come close. She is one entertaining girl!

The Red Bull Effect

No, it wasn't planned. Yes, we laughed, the coats were a coincidence. We planned on going ice skating, when we got there, the open skating they advertised wasn't skating but broom hockey! And 3 moms weren't going to play broom hockey in white coats. The last time I did that in a white coat was in elementary school for PE and got a bloody lip and had to go to the doctor! I still have scar tissue on the inside of my lip.

Instead we had to come up with something quick, we had 2 hours with no children. Steph brought up the fact she hadn't tried Red Bull before, so voila! That's how our story begins. At the Chevron parking lot chugging Red Bulls through straws. I wish we took a picture of how funny we looked doing that. We finally decided since we had our cameras we would go take pictures downtown.

On the downward end of the RB effect, we had to take a little break.

Poor Tausha slipped on the metal cover in the grass and completely biffed it. Kinda like I did at Jump on It, if you were one of the lucky ones to witness my gracefulness. I'll put more pics when I get them from the other camera!

Halloween 2008

Halloween was a long day this year. Brooke and I helped at Wes's class party. We made graveyards for their treats, some of the kids were afraid to eat them because they thought the chocolate pudding and crushed chocolate cookies were real mud and dirt! It was a lot of fun.

Wes was a Star Wars Clone Trooper. I guess at recess all the Star Wars kids got together and played. He said it was a lot of fun.

Brooke and I matched, obviously, this year. No, I haven't dressed up in years and years. My friends talked me into it! Brooke loved the idea of matching witch costumes, so out of her 5 costumes to choose from, she had no problem choosing this one.

Dave was loving this for some reason! He wanted a picture with us! After school, Tausha, Steph and I decided to have a little party to eat an early dinner before the kids were off trick or treating. We invited about 10 or so families over. It was lots of fun. So now I wonder what we will be dressed as next year!
What a nice family picture, wouldn't you say? I was lucky to get Dave there. He was enjoying his Judge Judy time at home and I had to go and drag him away to help me watch the kids while I did the party thing! I was so exhausted when the day was finally over. I had to take off my boots and put flip flops on to take the kids out. Thankfully my tights were the kind with no feet in them! Hope you all had a great Halloween too! And if you know of any dentists who are buying back the candy, please let me know.

1st Grade Field Trip

Wesley's class went on their first field trip last week to a local corn maze and farm. My friend, Steph and I took our little girls and to keep an eye on our boys! Wes was so excited to ride the school bus. For some reason our school district thinks it's our responsibility to drive our kids to school or let them walk, as young as they are, and hope that nothing happens to them. As there are no lights or crossing guards or any safety measures at any intersections for the 2+ mile distance.

Anyway, I think Brooke had as much fun as Wes did here. She played with her two idols, Taylor and Kinzie. She loves these two girls and wants to be just like them.
Taylor finally got Brooke to go through this corn tunnel. She was a bit nervous at first and then we couldn't get her out of it. When she saw me, she screamed and ran the other direction.

This slide is HUGE! Underneath the white plastic is all bails of hay and a board to stabilize it. Wes had so much fun playing on here. The only problem was waiting their turn! They were only allowed one at a time.

Isn't he handsome?

This is a little maze they could run around. Brooke spent about 30 minutes in it throughout the day. She would run in and on and jump from one bail to the next. She's in the background in the brown coat. Wes was having fun jumping along the tops and racing his friends.

We took a hayride, it was very slow and went in a big circle. Not exciting at all. The little girl behind Brooke is Kinzie. When we brush Brooke's hair in the morning or after a bath she asks if her hair is like Kinzie's or Taylor's!

Now Brooke is having her turn next to Taylor. Like I said, the ride was really slow.

Did you all know that Wes has a brother? Well if you didn't it was a secret. And here he is, Karson! They call themselves "Secret Brothers".

We also went into a really big pumpkin patch that looked haunted, it was dying and gross. There were tall sunflowers that were growing in there too and they were falling over. The kids got to pick their own pumpkins. Wes's is small enough to fit into his pants pocket. Brooke's is bigger. Mine is part green part orange.

BYU Volleyball Game or was it UTAH?

On Friday the kids and I went to the BYU/Utah girls volleyball game to watch Sarah Hibbert play. Ya, ya, we sat in the Utah section. Get over it. That's what we'll do for a fellow "Alaska Grown". Sarah and Emily (my sister) have been great friends growing up and it was so much fun to see the entire Hibbert family down here! Thanks "Friends of DeArmoun" for letting Kim go for awhile, it was much appreciated.



Emily and Wes. When Wes found out Sarah plays for Utah, he gave me a very strange look, like I had just completely duped him! But then he told me he would secretly cheer for her. Such a sweet boy.

I love my toothless sweetie. He's missing 5 teeth!

THANK YOU ANDY! He gave me about a 2 minute break from Brooke's craziness. Hang on, what is this with your red and blue shirts?

What the heck? What picture is this that I found on my camera? Good one Em! By the way, Sarah kicked BYU.