Happy 8th Birthday Kayden!

Kayden was excited for his birthday this year.  In fact, the night before his birthday he wrote himself this note:

 

 It reads, "Happy birthday.  Get ready for school.  Kayden's special day is today (tomorrow is crossed out) the 12th.  Yay! Yee How!"  Pretty sure that last part was supposed to say, "Yee Haw!"  After he wrote this note he asked me to bring it to him when I woke him up for school the next morning--as if he was going to forget it was his birthday.

 8!

 

 Bonk on the head!

 Kayden had to wait all day to open his birthday presents.  (McKay had a late basketball practice.)

 

 Dad decided he wanted a turn to bonk Kayden on the head.

 Kayden has become a Jurassic Park fan.  So this birthday he got a Jurassic Lego set and a Lego Jurassic World Xbox game.

 He quickly set to work building his Lego set.

The Saturday following Kayden's birthday he invited his friends over to celebrate with him.  We did all of Kayden's favorite things at his party.

We played Kayden's favorite games like Connect 4 (top) and Mario Kart (below), Twister and we played baseball outside.

 We even ate Jello as a birthday cake at his party.  Kayden loves Jello!

 Opening presents from friends.  It was quite exciting!

Once everyone left, Kayden settled in and starting building some of the Lego sets that he received from his friends.

8 Things We Love About Kayden:

1. He loves to spray whipped cream from the bottle straight into his mouth.  Then as he is eating it, he giggles the whole time.
2. He loves to play sports, even though he sometimes forgets.  He plays soccer, basketball, flag football and baseball.  He NEVER forgets that he loves to play baseball.
3. He likes to give me kisses and hugs.  That never will get old.
4. He still writes me notes and leaves them around the house for me.  He also writes notes to Suki (the dog) and tapes them to the wall by her dog bed.
5. He loves school.  Homework, not so much--but he has learned to do it without complaint (most of the time).
6. He loves to read and I will often find him reading in his bed at night with his lights off using his Harry Potter light-up wand for light.
7. He still loves to play with his friends.  There are many days when his friends spend the day at our house.
8. He still likes to snuggle.  He will climb in bed with me on the weekends or while watching a movie on the couch.

We love you Kayden!  You made our family complete.  Happy eighth birthday!

Go Knights!

We are super excited for McKay.  He made the Lone Peak High School Sophmore basketball team!  It will be a fun and busy basketball season.

Happy Halloween 2015

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays around here. We had a great time celebrating this year. We had fun dressing up and trick-or-treating.

McKay dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite for school and I must say, he looked awesome.  He made a great Napoleon!
 

Jaxon, being the Spurs fan that he is, dressed up for school as a Spurs fan for.  He wore the hat he won at the beach this summer, along with his sweatshirt.  We bought him some Spurs socks and put some temporary tattoos on his cheeks.

 Kayden was the Winter Soldier from Captain America.

Josh beefed up his nerd costume from last year.  He wore a propeller hat, some buck teeth, had some nerdy pin buttons, a pocket protector as well as taped up glasses.

I love the Halloween parade at the school!  We waited in anticipation to see our boys parade on through:

  

Josh decided to go trick-or-treating with his buddies this year.  They all had a good time together.  After trick-or-treating, they sorted candy and played some games.

Kayden went trick-or-treating with Mom, Dad, Grandma and Aunt Caprice.  He was a boy on a mission.  He wanted to skip houses just so he could get the house that served donuts and the house that served hot dogs and hot chocolate.

McKay and Jaxon each did their own thing for Halloween this year.  McKay went to a party at a friend's house and Jaxon had a party at our house where they watched The Sixth Sense.

It was a happy Halloween for all!

Fall Break 2015

Jeremy challenged the boys to train and beat one of his office teams in the triathlon that we participated in this summer.  The boys trained and our family team ended up beating one of the office teams.  The prize was a nice get away in the mountains of Midway during fall break.  We had a great time together as a family making memories.  The first thing we did was go on a Razor ride through the fall filled mountains.

 Kayden and Josh rode in with Jeremy and I in one Razor while McKay (who is a licensed driver) followed us in another Razor.

 The mountains were full of color and beauty!

 This was one of my favorite views!

My boys having a great time--even when mom makes them stop for a picture.

We rode through many mountain streams.  McKay and Jaxon decided to go as fast as they could through one stream:

I love the look on their face after they come through the water!  A little shock and ah!

 A little wet after making his way through the stream.

 A view of the valley below us as we climbed the mountain.

 Kayden got a turn to ride in the front. He thought it was pretty fun and wished he could have ridden there longer.

 Josh liked the front too when it was his turn.

 After an afternoon of Razor riding, we went back to our hotel for some swimming.  Then we went to dinner and got shakes in town.  We stayed up late playing games and eating treats having a great time.

The next day we got some breakfast/brunch at The Blue Boar Inn which was very tasty.  We then drove our car to Cascade Springs and walked along the falls.  It was beautiful.  Pictures below courtesy of Josh:

 Kayden on the bridge over some of the falls.  

 

 The best family ever--including the photographer!

 

 Josh and Kayden at the Cascade Springs.  I love it when they get along and like each other.  Doesn't get any better!

After we walked around the springs, we drove through the canyon to a movie theater where we watched Goosebumps.  We enjoyed the movie!  We met up with Uncle Paul's family at Grandma's house and tailgated at the BYU game.  (Now you know why we were all decked out in BYU shirts at Cascade Springs.)  We enjoyed visiting and playing catch with the football before the game.  We had a great time together at the game with each other.  We got home late and was able to sleep in the next day.  What a quick, enjoyable, fun trip!

Walking Field Trip

I was able to go with Kayden on his field trip.  We walked from the school to an equestrian park.  We learned all about farming and where our food comes from. 

 Walking to our destination.  It was a beautiful day!

 Kayden's class with his teacher.  Kayden is smack in the middle on the back row.

 Being silly.

We had a good time together and the field trip was fun, but when we got home we were pooped!

Going Back To My Roots

I come from good roots.  All that I am and all that I have been taught have come from those that came before me.  You see, every harvest season I look back on my roots and especially think about these two:
  

This is my Grandpa and Grandma Culley.  My maternal grandparents.  When I was growing up, my grandparents had a farm.  I spent countless hours on that farm.  Sometimes I would help with the harvest, but mostly I just played and explored.  How I wish I could ask these two questions, talk with them and soak in all their knowledge!  I would love to ask, "Grandpa, when should I pick my pears?"  Every year I ask that one in my head.  My grandma used to process and can all the fresh fruit and vegetables from the farm.  My mom was a master canner as well.  I hated canning when I was growing up.  It would take all day and the house would get so hot!  I guess I didn't mind it so much when I got to eat farm peaches in December.  Nonetheless, I swore I would never can.

But you see, I inherited my grandma's processor steamer when she passed away.  And although I didn't think I would ever use it, no one else wanted it so I took it.  Spring ahead about 10 years later when I had a house of my own and my own garden.  Jeremy had the crazy idea to plant a salsa garden.  I agreed.  When I was time to harvest I hopped on the internet and found a great recipe for canning salsa and that is how it all began.  Ever since then I have canned salsa every year.  Now I live in a different house with a bigger garden and my own fruit trees.  In addition to salsa, I now process and can apple sauce (apples courtesy of my parents) , apple pie filling, grape juice, jalapeno jelly, peaches and spaghetti sauce all using the processor steamer I inherited from my grandma.  That is until today.

My beloved steamer processor that I inherited from Grandma Culley.

I made a batch of salsa today and went to process it and behold there was a small hole in the bottom of the steaming pan.  It could no longer hold water to steam and process my jars.  I got sad--really sad.  In fact, I started to cry--a lot.  I think of my grandma every time I can and use her steamer and now suddenly her steamer was worn out (after all the steamer is older than me) and it broke my heart.  I will have to buy a new one.  Canning won't be the same, but I will still can and think of Grandma and my mom while doing it.  Canning is definitely part of my roots.  Hopefully someday my one of my granddaughters will inherit my new steam processor and continue the canning heritage. 

20 Year Mission Reunion

Jeremy's mission presidents from the Canary Islands, Spain mission celebrated being home for 20 years.  They threw a big mission reunion that was located right next to our house.  Jeremy and I were able to go for a little while so he could catch up with his mission president and wife--President and Sister Francis--as well as his mission buddies.  It was good for him to catch up.

A good chunk of the people that attended the reunion.  Some left before we could get a picture.  Jeremy is the fourth one from the left.  President and Sister Francis are seated in the front middle.