New Mowers

This month both Isaac and Anna learned how to mow the lawn.

Yay!

Dallin Got His Permit

He had a little fun with the picture I took on my phone.

He wanted to put silly sticker heads on the people in the background :)

New Beginnings

Mike and I had the pleasure of attending New Beginnings with Grace tonight.
It was all about developing your talents.
She shared the book that she has been working on writing and a picture that she drew.

We are so proud of the Young Woman that she is becoming!

Back to School 2014

Kids started school again yesterday.

I know I am pretty biased because I'm their mom, but dang they are good looking kids :)

Here's hoping that they have a great school year!

Noah 11th grade      Dallin 9th grade      Grace 7th grade      Isaac 6th grade      Anna 4th grade

Noah's First Job

My brother Greg works at KT Tape and he told Noah that he could get him a summer job there working in the warehouse. KT Tape is the official tape of the world cup so right now they are putting stickers on all their boxes to indicate that.

Noah is very excited to have a job and I think it's going to be great for him!

(Thanks Greg!)

He's 16!

What!?

I'm sure I say this every time one of my kids has a birthday, but seriously this one was a big one!

 He requested french toast for breakfast, I had some fresh raspberries so I threw them on top. He said it was delicious!

I wrote down his wishes, but I couldn't the full list so here's what I remember

Home from school early

no chores

Choose the snacks for the day

(can't remember what he put on there, but I'll be willing to bet popcorn made the list!)

gameday

take brothers and sisters to get ice cream

(he was mostly excited to drive without an adult in the car!)

kneel by mom at prayer time

stay up late

backscratch from mom

When I picked him up from school I took him to get his driver's license.

What better present for a 16 year old!

I had purchased a used car a few weeks before, so that he would have something to drive. He really tried to persuade us to get him a used Mustang that he found for $5000, but in the end I found a Honda Accord and paid $1950. It's a little rough around the edges, but in my opinion it's perfect for a first car.

Anyway, it really didn't take long at all to get the license.

He was so happy!

After we go the license I took him out to lunch.

He was happy with his cards and gifts

We did some on his birthday and did his cake and other presents on another day

because we ran out of time.

 His choice for candy this year was candy corn

(my secret is that I had a bag stashed away, which is a good thing

because it was no where to be found in the stores...so it was old, but

he said it tasted just fine)

His big gift was a new stereo for his car. I thought I would try to be funny though,

so I had the new one installed and wrapped up the old one...it was a tape deck, ha ha!

I actually wish I would have found some tapes to wrap up and give him as a joke, but anyway...

He was so excited when he saw the old one wrapped up, so we went out to the car and he got to try out the new one. It does bluetooth and has a usb port so he can plug his phone in. He loved it! 

After dinner and opening some gifts he went and changed clothes and my Dad was able to ordain him to the office of a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. The Spirit was pretty strong, I know that Mike would have loved to be here, but I felt like he was here.
Participating in the ordination were from left to right my brother Joe, my nephew Holden (who just recently became a priest himself) Brother Carter from our Bishopric, my Dad, my brother Greg, my brother-in-law Norm and my nephew Titus.

My grandma, his great-grandma, was even able to be here.

 Before the night was over Noah got one more treat...Grace Isaac and Anna wanted to put on a skit for him in the back yard. They had been practicing and it was actually really cute :) I think they got their ideas from Studio C.

We had his cake on a different day like I said.

I made homemade molten lava cakes.

They were yummy!

I really think he had a wonderful birthday!

He gets to have a party with friends this year, but he hasn't figured out what he wants to do yet...so that will come later!

Isaac Turns 11!

Isaac was looking forward to his birthday and was very eager to make his wishes :)

He wished for...

No chores

Game day

Eat his breakfast downstairs

He had a cinnamon crumb muffin, a pop-tart, some strawberry slices and some passionfruit juice.

Place and light his candles

Mario Kart tournament

Stay up late

Snuggle with Mom

Watch some of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Not to take his shower until the morning

Backscratches and songs

He wanted a BYU cake this year

 I think it's funny though that he asked for a red velvet cake,

My sister-in-law, Melanie, told him that a BYU cake should not have any red, ha ha!

The movie he got from my parents was E.T. 

I didn't get a picture of him with it though, oops.

Cards from family

His candy was Whoppers, his book was the new Brandon Mull book, Five Kingdoms.

For his gift, he got a new bike!

I know he had a good day and we loved spoiling him :)

We have a young woman!

Grace has been so excited to turn 12.
This is a milestone birthday for her because it means that she gets to go to the Young Women group at church, she has been looking forward to that for a long time!

Since her birthday was on a Sunday we decided to do some of the celebrating on Saturday the 23rd. When our kids turn 12 they get a day with Mom and Dad...Grace was just stuck with me all day though, since Mike (for some reason) couldn't make it :) He did get a chance to talk to her though and I know she loved that.

Some things that she wanted to do on her day...

Eat steak

I took her to Outback Steakhouse.

She loved it and they even gave her a free dessert.

Go see Catching Fire

and get her first manicure

We had a fun time together and we made sure that we took our traditional photo booth pictures too :)

On Sunday we had some family over to celebrate with cheesecake and ice cream

I made homemade cheesecakes and decorated them with chocolate mustaches, per Grace's request.

She was really happy with her gifts and cards

Anna surprised her by giving Grace her DS

It was so wonderful to see Anna do this without anyone telling her to.

(Grace had been begging Anna to sell it to her)

Isaac gave her a cute little penguin craft he made at scouts.

She chose Riesens for her candy

House of Hades for her book

and for her gift she asked for a fish, and she got it!

She named him Finnick :)

She enjoyed making wishes too!

Here are some of her wishes

Breakfast in bed

Cinnamon rolls and some pomegranate and passion fruit juice.

Game day - she played Minecraft mostly

No chores (of course)

Sit in the front seat of the Suburban

Have Grandpa sing to her

Light her birthday candles

(sorry but I just love my brother's expression in the back)

Stay up late

Choose a movie to watch

Sleep in Mom's bed

Noah Has His Permit!

Noah is so excited!

I'm a little nervous, but I guess that can be expected :)

November 4th, 2013

Look who wanted to mow the lawn

She's is so dang cute :)

She did a pretty good job too!

 (October 26th)

Braces for Noah and Dallin

We had started the process back in Maryland to get Noah and Dallin in braces. I knew I wanted to get it going as soon as I could here so that Noah wouldn't be in braces when he graduated from high school. We had their initial assessments done and then on October 9th they both got their braces put on.

I don't know what happened to the picture I took of Noah that day ...it has disappeared :( So here's a picture of him with them now.

Boy the first week or so they were hating it, they have gotten used to them now, but I don't think they love it. I still believe that they will be grateful in the long run...I know I don't regret getting them and sometimes I really wish I would've had them when I was a teenager.

Noah gets his Eagle!

Ok, I'm so so so far behind on my blog...
I don't know why, maybe it has something to do with moving
and Mike deploying...maybe :)
Anyway, I'm going to try and get caught up and then
hopefully I'll be able to keep it up!

Noah was awarded his Eagle on July 14th

along with his good friend Nathaniel Sparks.
This is something that he has been working towards
for a long time.
The invitation

The Court of Honor

I got to pin on Noah's Eagle medal

Noah pinning on the mother's pin and father's pin

 Noah recognized 2 of his mentors
Lincoln Stevens and Adam Sanchez

 We couldn't be prouder of this fine young man!

It was fun to share this special night with the Sparks.
 Nanette and I
2 proud mommas :)
(sure miss her!)

 Nathaniel and Noah
Good friends