Catching Up.....

I will admit it, I suck at doing my blog. I really don't enjoy it, but I know I need to have some documentation of my children's lives. I don't scrapbook and I don't write in a journal, so this is my feeble attempt at capturing my children's lives.

Unfortuantely, I don't update my blog as often as I need to. Because of this, I get behind and then I feel overwhelmed because I have too many events to blog that it seems too big of a feat to tackle.

But, I have decided to try to catch up on some of the things we have been doing for the past couple of monthes. I am going to make one entry and post some pictures of what we have been doing with a little description of what the picture is. So, here is my attempt to update my blog.

Here it goes....

5K Race

At Bluff Ridge Elementry, they had a fund raiser. It was a carnival and a 5K Race. Jordan signed up and ran his first race. He ran the whole time (without walking) and made good time. I was very proud of him and I think he was proud of himself. After the run, they had some fun little rides and activites for the kids.

Here are some pictures of carnival.

Here is Jordan with his number in the race. He felt stupid taking a picture of himself in a 5K but I was proud of him and wanted to document the event.

The Stihl Timber Sport Series (as told by Jordan)

I have always had a fascination with the timber sports, from the chainsaws, to the pole climbing, to the log running. I think it is cool!!! Well they finally came to Utah and I told Jodi that I was going to take Luke and Dylan. We had a great time and Dylan actually won a toy chainsaw in a little contest they picked him to enter. Rumor has it, it might even be televised in November on ESPN2. Here are some photos of the day. They had a lot more than just the cutting and chopping events. There was a mechanical bull, petting zoo, and a whole lot more. I will definitley go back if they come again next year.

Here is a picture of Luke and Dylan while we were waiting for the springboard chopping event.

Here is Dylan attempting to lasso, he is a real cowboy at heart.

Luke is a natural at calf ropping, but it's kind of hard to lasso anything with your eyes closed.

This bird would only dance on Luke's shoulder, he absolutely thought he was the coolest kid on the block that day.

Dylan, just before he got bucked off, he gave it his all but his lack of boots, chaps, and a cowboy hat did him in.

Dylan at the petting zoo.

Dylan's second attempt at the lasso was much better, he was grinning ear to ear.

This was Dylan's favorite part of the whole day. All he wanted to do was play with the baby rat. I told him that he'll have to clear it with his mom before he can get one of his own.

Luke with the baby rat at the petting zoo.

Layne Frost, I mean Luke Rowell getting the full 8 seconds in just before he was bucked off.

The 4th of July

We are very lucky to have such a terrific nanny to watch the kids while I work. Her name is Breanne and she is wonderful. She loves the boys and the boys love her. We really didn't have anything planned for this 4th of July, so Breanne invited us to go with her to her Grandma's house and watch the Clearfield Parade. Her grandma lives right next to main street so we had great seats to watch the parade. The boys had a good time watching the parade and collecting tons of candy.

Dylan got a loose tooth the day before the fourth. Out of nowhere he came to me and told me his tooth was loose. When I touched it, it was really loose. I couldn't believe it. I asked him if he did anything to make it loose and he mentioned something about a door, but I didn't quite understand what happened. Anyways, I tried to get him loosing his tooth on video to capture the important moment, but he didn't want to pull it out. We tried a couple of times, but he didn't want to pull it out. So, I let it be. Well, on the 4th he was playing with it and I told him not to play with it because I want it on video.

Dylan loves candy more than anything. He wanted to eat candy from the 4th of July parade, but he couldn't eat it with his tooth. Frustrated that he couldn't eat candy, he yanked his tooth out and stuffed candy into his mouth within the next second. He came to me holding his tooth and saliva from the candy coming out of his mouth. So, Dylan lost his first tooth on the 4th of July.

Later in the day, we had the boys do poppers and sparklers. Obviously the boys loved doing the poppers and lighting sparklers. Mason wanted to hold a sparkler. So I sat with him by the curb and helped him hold a sparkler. The minute he held the sparkler one of the sparks landed on his

foot and burned a hole through his socks and skin within a matter of seconds. I tried to pat it out with my fingers and I got a blister from it. When I took off his sock, his skin had several layers gone and it was pure white. I couldn't believe how bad it was for just a few seconds. It makes you think how horrible and awful it must be to have burns all over your body. Obviously, Mason didn't do any more sparklers after that.

That night we went with Breanne and her family to the Clearfield field and watch the firework show. It was really great and it was Mason's first time at watching fireworks. At first he was a bit scared but after a while he enjoyed himself and had a good time. We all had a great time and are so grateful to live in this country and have the freedom and opportunities we experience on a daily basis.

Breanne and the boys watching the parade.

Breanne and the boys waiting for the parade to start.

The boys throwing down sparkling in the street on the 4th.

God Bless America!!

Swine Flu

Everyone knows that the Swine Flu has hit the world and has created a pandemic. At first, I was really nervous about getting swine flu, because the media has made it into just a huge thing that you think if you get it you will die. So, when Jordan came home from Wee Care (his second job that that he has the Sunday night) and told me that he had the Swine Flu, I couldn't believe it. He had been feeling a bit under the weather and had a hard time breathing because of his asmtha, but he didn't seem really sick. He didn't even stay home from work because he didn't feel that bad to call in sick. But, when he went to Wee Care and told them he had was having a hard time breathing they tested him for the Swine Flu and it came back positive. So, needless to say he didn't go to work for the next couple of days. Actually, it was like a mini vacation because he felt fine and was able to hang out with the family and not go to work. Hurray for the Swine Flu!!!

Here is a picture of him and the boys trying not to spread the Swine Flu.

Mills Montessouri

Dylan have been going to Mills Montessouri since he was 3. He has enjoyed it and has learned a lot. I really enjoyed the school and felt it was worth the drive and money (It took 40 minutes round trip to take him to school each morning and another 40 minutes to pick him up). But, eventually I knew I would have to put him into the public school system because they only go to 3rd grade. So, when Dylan was picked out of the lottery to go into North Davis Preparatory Academy, it was a perfect time to make the transition. He is very excited for his new school but has really loved Mills and will miss them alot.

Here he is with Mr and Mrs. Mills.

Going to California


It has been 3 years since I have been home to California. So, when Luke and Dylan started talking about visiting Grandma and Grandpa at their house, I knew it was time to go. So, when my sister Kim had a baby I knew the time had some. I really don't like road trips, expecailly with 3 kids but they had done so well going to Vegas that I thought it was doable.

Jordan had to work, so I ventured off to California with the boys by myself. The ride down was really good. I couldn't believe how good they were. They watched movies for about 10 hours. I don't know how our parents did road trips without a DVD player. I know their was a lot of fighting and the time went by slow. I am grateful that we have the technology to bring movies into cars. It makes me a much happier mommy.

Anways, the trip was great. We went to the beach, I went to the Sacramento temple to do a session, I went to the American Idol concert, hung out with friends from High School and most importantly we got to hang out with family. Everytime I am around my family, I feel so lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life.

It was also good that my boys got to spend time with their cousins. They really don't get to see them very often. Maybe once a year. So, whenever we get an opportunity to spend time with them, they treasure it. They really get along very well and have such a good time with them.

It was a good trip and I was sad to go. But, I am sure I will go back in 6 monthes or so. My parents are renovating their house and I want to come back home to Califonria and see it when it is completed. So, I am sure we will go out next spring.

So, we got into the car and headed home. I should have known that when I took the wrong freeway home (it added about 2 hours to my already 10 hour ride) it wasn't going to go well. I will spare you all the gory details ( I actually don't want to rehash the hell I went through), but I had 3 sick kids in the car. They were crying, screaming and making my life a living hell. I actually think they had the swine flu or some kind of version of the flu. At one time, I had all 3 crying and Mason had dihirrea coming out of his collar around his neck. It took us 2 days and 14 long and grueling hours in the car to make it home. I had to stay in Lake Tahoe because the boys weren't going to make it any longer because they were so miserable. It was a horrible expereince that I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. But, I made it. I won't say I am a better person for it, because I wasn't very calm and patient during the whole ordeal. Honestly, I was angry and upset the whole time because I had to endure this by myself while Jordan was in Wyoming working. Come to think about it, the last time the boys were vomiting all over the house, he was on a work assignement. Obviously, Heavenly Father is trying to teach me compassion and patience. We all know that isn't going to be easy to teach me. Oh well.

Well, here are some pictures from the trip...

Some of the gang from High School. Names from Right to left: Rachel, me, Jennifer,Gina, Mandy, Missy and Brittney.


Me with my new niece Lyla. She is adorable and I love her!!


Luke and Lyla. He is baby hungery. He couldn't get enough of her. He wanted to hold her every minute he got. He loved her.


Dylan and Lyla.

My two nieces Julianna and Lyla. Aren't they adorable!

A girls night out!!

Grandpa Marvin and Uncle Tyler with the boys. They loved seeing them. As we drove away from their house, both Luke and Dylan said, "Boy, I am sure going to miss grandma, grandpa and Tyler. We sure do love them!"

My mom and sister waiting for American Idol concert to begin!!

Going to Puerta Vallarta!!

Jordan and I were finally able to get away by ourselves and visit the beautiful place of Puerta Vallarta. My mom was kind enough to fly in from California and take care of the kids while we got away. We were able to spend 8 glorious days at Puerta Vallarta at a beautiful resort called Villa Del Palmar Flamingos. We didn't know what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised. Puerta Vallarta is a place that has beaches but it also has the mountains. So, we had a lot of time laying out by the pool and go to the beach but were also able to go and take some time to go up into the lush green mountains.

So, we started off our vacation by getting off the plane and being snatched up by a guy wanting us to do a time share presentation. Just a little background about Jordan and I when it comes to time share presentations. We have sat through a ton of them, so going to a time share isn't a big thing for us. So, we went to two time share presentations while we were at Puerta Vallarta and because we went to these presentations we got all of our tours and activities paid for by the time share companies.

Some of those activities we participated in are the following:

Snorkeling

Sierra Madre Tour

Swam with Dolphins

Massages

Dune Buggies

City Tour

All of the activities we went on were fun. Here are a few pictures that we took (I have to admit I didn't take a lot of pictures because I hate pictures of myself)

This is the resort that we stayed at during the week. It was gorgeous and a ton of fun!

We went on a tour called the Sierra Madre. It was a beautiful tour where we explore the mountains as well as go to the beach. This is a picture of what it looked like on the way up the mountain.

Here is the place that we went snorkeling. I haven't really gotten sea sick

before, but the ride to go snorkeling what very choppy and extremely rough.

There was a hurricane coming toward Puerta Vallarta so the water was

extremely rough. After the first 15 minutes on the boat, I started feeling really

sick. The ride lasted about an hour and a half one way but it felt like 10 years. About

20 minutes into the ride the little boy next to me started throwing up. Then another girl across from me started to throw up and then it was like a domino effect. People were very sick and were throwing up. I closed my eyes and tried to make myself feel better, but it didn't work. Once we finally made the destination for snorkeling, I wanted to die. I thought getting into the

water would make me feel better. I was wrong. The water was really rough and I couldn't handle

it any longer. I threw up in the water while everyone was snorkeling. I am sure a few people

caught a glimpse. I was miserable. I couldn't go through this again. I wasn't going to get back on the boat and go for another boat ride that would last another couple of hours. So Jordan used his Spanish and got us to go back to town with a local Mexican guy. We had to take a water taxi and then take some local buses to get back to resort. We really got a glimpse of real Mexican life. It was very informative and actually very interesting. After this snorkeling trip we canceled all of our water tours and rebooked them for activities on land.

Here we are taking a water taxi back to land after I spewed in the water. YEAH!

One of the tours that we also went on while in Mexico was a Dune Buggie tour. We had a tour guide take us though the city and back country on a Dune Buggie. Within 2 seconds of getting into the vehicle we were completely covered with mud. Obviously, I didn't have a clue of what this tour would be like because I wore a white T-Shirt. That T-Shirt was thrown away after the tour because it was stained brown by the time I finished.

Jordan had a fun time driving the dune buggie and considered the experience a good time. I wasn't as thrilled about the experience but I can mark it off things I have done in my life list. One thing I did realize about myself from this experience was that I don't like getting completely dirty. Being clean makes me much happier.

Here we are before we started the tour...

Here we are after the tour. We even washed ourselves

half way through the tour in a river but we still got mud

all over us by the time the tour ended.


Here I am trying to clean off some of the mud and filth that I had

covering my entire body. I felt like a new woman after this little dip in the water.

Jordan and I after our dip in the water.

On the Sierra Madre tour we got to visit a private beach where all the locals go and visit.

It was really beautiful and very quiet.

Here is the vehicle that we took to go on our Sierra Madre tour. Jordan was

totally impressed with the vehicle and wanted to drive it soooo bad. Unfortunately the closest he

got to the steering wheel was when we took this picture.

Here is a picture of a little crab. We ran into several of them at the resort. They are endangered

in Puerta Vallarta so they don't touch them or do anything to get rid of them. I thought they were funny looking and I found it intriguing to watch them walk around and interact with people.

Here is Jordan and I at a little village in Mexico.

Jordan hanging out with the local Mexicans in the little village from above.

He fits right in.

One of the things that we did every night was go to a nice restaurant. Jordan was in heaven.

He got to try a whole bunch of really good food and experience the ambiance of fine dining.

Here we are at one of his favorite restaurants during the trip. We got to eat outside and view

the ocean while eating great food. This was one of the highlights for Jordan.

One of the tours we went on was to get in the water with dolphins. We got to touch them, they

gave us kisses on the check and we were able to watch them do several tricks in the water.

The tour lasted about a half hour but it was fun and we had a great time. The only bad part

was that they wouldn't let you take pictures with your own camera. They had their photographers take pictures of you and then charge a fortune for the pictures (a CD with 8 snapshots was $100.00 dollars). So, we don't have any pictures of us with the dolphins but I did get a quick snapshot of the dolphin.

Overall, we had a great time and it was a just what we needed. I feel so lucky to have had the

opportunity to see a different part of the world and create a ton of great memories.