July Fun

Here are the pictures from Jace's birthday party, but first:
These are the only pics I got while we were at Cottonwood Heights pool last Thursday. Jace getting warm on the hot patio and Lance just enjoying the water. It was a blast! We went with some friends, Jared played with the kids, and I spent a lot of time over at the diving boards. They had several platforms that I didn't dare go on, but I found to my surprise that I can still do flips and dive! Woohoo! I asked Jace if he wanted to come watch me dive. "Na." He was having his own great time. Who wants to watch some Mommy dive? So what if she does cool tricks?

Kyle, Jace, cousins Logan and Kayden, and Lance cooling by the misters at Hogle Zoo.

Jared's Dad, and us (Kyle sleeping outta sight) at Red Lobster celebrating Jace's birthday. We used to live by this Red Lobster in Layton, and Jace would ask quite often if he could go there. We told him, maybe for your birthday.... He ordered his favorite - crab legs.....Is he spoiled?

This is Jace's birthday bash in the backyard. He asked for yet another backyard water party. Jace is easy to please :) We had grilled hotdogs for lunch and Jared kept us cool with misters attached to our shade. He had a lot of fun setting it up :)

Having a splashin' time!

Cooling off with Otter Pops

Jace and his buddy from Layton that happened to move closer to Salt Lake and came to the party - Yay!

What a team effort!

L to R: Kyle, cousin Chandler, me, my sister, Jamie, Jace, and cousin Kayden visiting Jamie's team "Don't Give Up!" at Relay for Life.

Lance loves going to see the fish and ducks at Red Butte Gardens, right by where we live. We're so fortunate to live in such a beautiful place!

When mom answers the phone, it's the perfect time to grab the food off the counter and set it right here next to where I'm sitting. I can take care of myself!

One way to sleep....

Mom, where are those photos of me sleeping funny?

The look-alikes!

7-07-07!

(photos taken on 7-07-07)

On 7-07-07, Kyle turned 9 months!

(Jace was sick on his birthday, so we didn't get any great photos, but I'll post some soon of his birthday party.)

Come see Evan's website! Scroll down to the bottom of the site for a Cute that Lance said today and also a Cute by Jace. I had fun making the new homepage photo. The background is the Bear Lake beach, taken this year. This photo will be in the slideshow at the Relay for Life in Clearfield. It's tomorrow night at Clearfield High School's track. My sister, Jamie, is co-captain of team, "Don't Give Up". GO, TEAM!

Independence Day!

Here are our ALL-AMERICAN boys! We just took Kyle to Kiddie Kandids today. This outfit has lasted really well. You wouldn't even guess that I bought it at a yard sale - the matching one, too!

Party plans...

So I asked Jace today what kind of a birthday party he wants to have and what he'd like to do.



"Bugs.... playin' in the sandbox...."

"So do you want to have like a beach party?"

"Beach and bugs... and go to California."



He just would like to go to California sometime. So if anyone has any suggestions as to how I can incorporate bugs into a beach party, please let me know!

I asked Jace yesterday what he would like for his birthday and he said, "A telescope that I can look at germs with" (I think he means a microscope :)"and a baby". Whatever happened to a new bike or roller skates? Isn't Kyle still considered a baby? He's starting to stand up, but he's still little! Jace has really been keeping after me about wanting more siblings. He loves having lots of family around, I think. Every time I pile all three boys in the bath tub he says, "I wish Evan was here... Then we'd really be crowded!"

Here are some of Jace's interests:
Right now, Jace has been fascinated with finding iron filings in the dirt with his magnet. He loves science and doing experiments. He still loves finding butterflies, praying mantises, and bugs for his lizard to eat. Oh! He would like to have a gecko, but we don't really have space right now for another aquarium. He really enjoys reading books. Today he enjoyed reading some mythology with me. (We've been reading a book together during Lance's naptime, called "What Every 2nd Grader Should Know" - it's great! It has History, Mathematics, Literature, to name a few subjects. He really enjoyed the Tall Tales about Paul Bunyan and such. The Civil War and slavery was really interesting to him, too.) On his own, he reads the Box car children books. He's always interested in endangered species. He is looking forward to catching more fish at Bear Lake this weekend. He loves making tunnels and sculptures in the sand. He has a passion for pretty much anything outside!
That's our Loveable, soon to be SEVEN year old, Jace!

Happy Father's Day!

"A Dad is someone you look up to no matter how tall you

get".

(This is at the cabin a few weeks ago - we plan to visit the cabin a lot this summer since we live closer now )

When we got home from church today, we were still sitting in the van about to get out when Lance said:
"Happy Father's Day, Dad!" he exclaimed loud and clear. It was so cute. I asked Jared, "Did you guys tell them to say that in nursery?" (Jared teaches nursery with another Dad) He told me they did. I turned around and gave Lance five. "Good job, Lance!" Then he exclaimed happily, "Happy Father's Day, Mom!"

Meet "Sandy"

Jace named her. I think it was appropriate. He decided she's a girl because she laid ELEVEN eggs! We were stunned! (The rest of the eggs had already been moved- serious!) Jace caught her in California while we were there. Sandy was just on the front porch of Gramma's house and Jace had a great time capturing her. He kept her in his bug tent all the way home from CA. His friend in Vegas was fascinated, as was Jace. (We like to stay over with them on our trips to CA - They're a great family, and it makes the trip so much easier!) Once we got home, Jace kept it in the tent for a few weeks, and then we decided we'd better give Sandy a nicer home. We got back from the pet store with an aquarium, heat lamp, some sand, and a water dish. Sandy could NOT wait to be in her new home. She laid 11 eggs that night while still inside the tent. We put the tent inside the aquarium and opened the door so that Sandy could come out and into her new home as soon as she was rested from laying all those eggs! Then Jace and I carefully spooned the eggs out and into the aquarium, next to the water dish. Sandy covered them with sand. I hope they live! Wouldn't that be fun??? I have really been getting into this lizard thing. Did you know that the sex of the baby is determined by the temperature around the egg?

The eggs were born on May 21st, so 2 months from then, they should hatch. We'll let you know!

Tunes and Evan

Dontcha just love that music? I love visiting my blog just for the music :) Okay, I like looking at my kid's cute pictures, too! I love that song about California. Lance really got into it, too. Today, this new song popped into my head and I thought about putting it on our blog. Evan loved this song and he would ask me to play it over and over again so he could dance to it. He said, "I want that one again!" and we'd repeat it and Jace, Evan, and I danced again and again.

Here is Evan and his cowboy uncle, Casey (Jared's brother). Evan is being a rodeo star. He's wearing Casey's hat, as he always liked to do when Casey came. Casey made him laugh sooo much!

"Up" by Shania Twain

The rest of our California pics...and a few others

Jace wrote in the sand, "I love Evan". Evan was in our thoughts often as we enjoyed the beach. We kicked some sand for Evan.
I just like this picture :)
Jace

Do you think he likes the water?

Jace and Lance made some friends at the beach.

Lance blows bubbles as Kyle looks on. What a great baby! He was so good in that crib for most the time that we were there. He even got a nice nap in it!

I really like this one, too :)

2 happy beach boys!

Lance's favorite thing to do!

So Jared bought this ping-pong set so that we could have paddles to take to the school and play ping pong with Dad on one of our visits to the school. They have a room there with a couple fooz-ball tables, a pool table, and, of course, the ping pong table. But who needs the real thing when we've got this make-shift at home? Watch out for the pots!

Lance petting Zoey (sp?) who is sitting in Aunt Jamie's lap. ( Gramma Kimmy's house)

Heads Carolina, Tails California!

Here's a few pics from our blast at the beach.

We dropped by the beach after church. How would it be to do that every Sunday?

Here's Our Soccer Dude!

Favorite position: Goalie

cousins Kyle and Dylan (2weeks)

The cousins at the zoo: Lance, Logan, Ethan, Chandler, Kayden, Jace, and Jonah

The look-alikes


Howdy, partner!

More of our hikes with the BOB...

Uncle Jimmy and Kyle bein' cute

Jace is getting iron filings out of the dirt with his magnet.

Jared is doing a dance for Kyle as Lance jogs ahead.

Our attempt at a family pic. Hey Kyle! The camera's over there!

Aaah! Look at the great outdoors! I think we'll call THIS our backyard!

This is how far we got with the BOB.

Here's our BOB! (and another cute pic of Kyle)

Meet the BOB!

Our first outing.

How can I NOT take a picture of this smile?

The boys trying on hats at one of Jared's favorite stores, "Cabela's"

Lance and Kyle.

Kyle in the swing in our "backyard".

Jace 'n' Kyle after church

Sorry it's been a while. What have we been doing? We had Spring Break this past week. It snowed, so we didn't go to the cabin. Jared got lots done here, though. We have been doing research on jogging strollers for two kids. Mine is getting pretty beat up, and I can't take it on the trails above our home. Well, today Jared went and picked up my dream stroller! It's like an SUV, but a stroller. I think I'll call it an early Easter gift, since Jared spoiled me for my birthday and got me a hair straightener that I've been wanting. It's so cool, though! You can go anywhere with this stroller! It's a BOB Revolution stroller. Don't you love the name? Whoever would have thunk to call a stroller "BOB"? Anyway, tonight the kids and I went for a test drive in the stroller while Jared went to the Priesthood session. We walked and walked forever! There was no limit! Well, there was... after we were up the mountain a bit and the trail got a little more narrow. But in the other stroller I wouldn't have even been able to go very far down the gravel road to even get to the trails. Jace was walking ahead of me and moving the rocks out of the way so we could keep going further. What a gentleman :) Once we got to our highest point, we hung out for a while while Jace caught crickets and Lance threw rocks. On the way back home, Lance jogged the whole way. He has really gotten into the jogging thing. We have been taking walks to Red Butte Gardens right here next to where we live, and he sees joggers all the time. He gets out and jogs, even when we're going uphill! A break for me! But I was surprised at Lance's endurance. Like his Dad! (Jared was in track) If I had known he was going to jog that far, I would have put some shoes on rather than the sandals he was wearing! Every once and a while he'd fall on his knees and sometimes cry, but he kept getting up and going! I'm excited to go on more hikes with this awesome cool new toy we have.