First Soccer Game Of The Season!

Kamren had her first game today, bright and early! So much for at least sleeping in for one day a week! I think sleeping in is gone forever-at least until the kids grow up! She did a great job! No scores yet, but she is quite the little defender! I love watching her get in there after the ball! They named themselves the Pink Panthers, this year. That is a step up from last years Blunicorns! We are so lucky to have Coach Daddy, coaching again! He loves it, and so does she!

I think they forgot that the goalie shirt was for 6 and 7 year olds, not grown men!!!

Nothing is sweeter than watching a daddy coaching his girlies!

How's that for an action shot?!!! That is a serious swinging pony tail!!

Question?!!!

While driving the kids to school today, they were having a conversation about college. Kenzie, thinks she doesn't need college. She wants to be a Lego structure builder when she grows up, so she doesn't think college is necessary. Her friend, S, on the other hand, informed her that college is necessary, and she will just go to college for both of them, and then teach Kenzie everything important that Kenzie might need to know. Kamren then chimes in telling us that she is going to be a Tooth Fairy when she grows up, so she thinks she will skip college too! How exactly am I to respond to a child that wants to grow up to be a Tooth Fairy?!!!! Funny, funny kids!

Fun with Friends

Dax and I, were lucky enough to get some friends to come play with us one day last week! It was so fun to just leave behind the chores and the stuff that really needed to be done, and grab our kids and our cameras, and head out.....to where ever we ended up!! We don't get to see too much of these friends anymore, we kind of got spoiled for a bit, this summer, to have them live on our street again! First, we headed up to the Red Cliffs area, where our kids had no interest in our cameras. Then, we decided to head to Springdale for some apple picking and some lunch! It was a fun day of talking, laughing, watching the kids love to hang out with each other, and good food, and gelato! Yum! Let's do it again, soon!

Could she seriously be any cuter?!!!

Who knew that a porch swing could be so entertaining?!!! Apparently these two did!!

Birthday Boy

Tony turned the big 3-8 a couple weeks ago, and we did A LOT of celebrating!!! We decided that since we had big plans for the weekend, we would spend his actual birthday, August 18th, with the kids having a fun time. We took them to Pirate Island for some good times on Dixie Direct! They had a blast, got some lame prizes and were happy that daddy got cherry chip cupcakes that they could eat all of!

Then the real fun began! I decided a couple months ago that I wanted to do something extra special for my hard working husband. I got a couple of our neighbor/friends in on the gig, and we all headed to Vegas for Tony and Clay's big days!!!

First stop, a movie at the Southpointe hotel where we were staying!!! Clay chose the movie, something about some ghetto people winning a lottery and how they spend their money!!! Not my thing for sure, but the movie theater consession stands were impressive! Why, oh why, can't we have goods like these at our St. George movie theaters?!!!

Ice Cream and Kettle Corn?!!! Somebody in St George needs lessons in good movie food!

The movie was lame, lame, lame!!! Tony even made a comment that he can't believe I even agreed to go in!! I was trying to be a team player! No team player from me next time! Seriously! A waste of 2 hours!
Next, was Blue Man Group! So disappointing!!! Tony has been asking for at least a few years to see it! So I finally decide to surprise him and get tickets! There were moments of greatness, but as a whole, not so great! There were about 15 minutes of great, and an hour and a half of us with perplexed looks on our faces!!! Still fun, but not at all what he had expected!

I got slimed by a Blue Man!

To redeem our 2 strikes we now had on our fun, we decided to spend the next day seeing a few exhibits. First stop, Bodies, at the Luxor! So amazing! We spent at least 2 hours there! I have a whole new respect for the amazing creation that is our bodies!

After that, we went to see the Titanic exhibit! Pretty cool! Not as great as Bodies, but worth seeing!
We ended our day at the Shark Reef exhibit at Mandalay Bay. It was fine, except for the 45 minute wait to even get in.

This shot was for our kids! Who were home with the amazing Kelsey! We missed them, but had a great time just being adults for the weekend!

Our weekend ended there, our husbands weren't too happy about this! They thought that since the Blue Man Group wasn't everything it was hyped up to be, that we should extend our day, and go see Criss Angel!!! I wasn't too excited! That kind of stuff freaks me out! But I was willing to go if that is what needed to be! So we flipped on it! Heads, we go to Criss Angel, tails, we go home! The boys lost, and they were babies about it! So, we went home! The end!

Kamren

I have been dreaming for awhile of taking pictures of one of my kids in a petticoat on some railroad tracks. Since we don't have ANY in St. George, I had to wait until we went up North!!! My opportunity came when we went up for Karlins trip/baptism! Good thing it was only a couple weeks after Kamrens 6th birthday!

Kamren is my little model girl. She can look at you with this sweet face, and no smile and be pleasant and beautiful! I wish I could make a face like this and be pleasant looking! I just look like I am scowling!! She also got the bigger lips in our family! How lucky is she!!

We had a fun time taking these! Tony and Daxton were in heaven because they could explore the trains! I was happy because it was a beautiful evening and I had a willing subject!

Daxton is old enough for WHAT?!!!!

In an attempt to actually blog the events that are currently happening at our house, I am going to have to start blogging current and last months events at the same time!!! So sad what a slacker I am!!! Anybody who tells you your life gets less busy when your kids get older is a total liar!!!! Anyways......

Daxton is actually old enough for preschool this year!! I am not sure how this happened! I think most of the past 3 1/2 years is pretty much a blur, but they told me he is old enough, so guess what? I am actually a completely free of kids kind of gal for a couple hours, a few days a week!!!!! Tony looked at me yesterday and asked what I was going to do with myself!!! I had to laugh considering I had PLENTY to do! Meetings, and groceries, and t-shirt counting at the school. Well, that pretty much summed up my free time for Monday, and Wednesday isn't looking to free either!!! Oh well! I honestly didn't even have time to get emotional when I dropped him off. I think that everything "first" for Kenzie I am emotional, and the rest of the kids it is just another day!! I am still happy to have him have friends to interact with a few times a week. He gets extremely unhappy when we drop the girls off at school because he has nobody to play with. So I guess this will cure that problem a few days a week!

UPDATED: This is why you blog every day!!! Miss Dion just reminded me of the things I forgot about his first day!!! Yes! Miss Lori had to pry the boy off both Tony and I! I guess it was our faults for getting out of our car and going inside with him to get a picture!!!! And Yes!!! He cried for a minute! I think this is his way of letting me know he misses me when I go!!! There! I said it! My son is attached to his Mama!! :)

I didn't get much out of him about his first day. He told me that they sang, and got candy(his favorite), and did the pledge of A.....something!!! He couldn't remember what it was called. I think he did pretty well, and considering he asked me when he gets to go back when we were driving home, I would say that is a good sign!!!

Ready for his first day!!! We love Wee Wonders and Miss Lori!!

I can't believe I finally made it to my last kid being old enough to go to school! Since I had my first baby almost 14 years ago, this has been a long time coming!!!

Great to be 8!!!!

Well we got off the plane one night, and by the next morning we were off on another excursion! Sometimes I wonder what I am thinking when I plan all of these events!!! So Friday, was ACTUALLY Karlin's 8th birthday, and Daxton was dying to ride the Frontrunner to Salt Lake, so we decided to make a day off it! We took the kids to Discovery Gateway and had a blast! My kids love this place! Good thing we have a pass to go as much as we want all year! This marks the end of the "Karlin" posts!!! Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!

The store is always a favorite for the girls!

And Dress-up!

Daxton LOVED the Life Flight Helicopter that they have on the roof of the museum. We went back 3 times so that he could be the pilot!

We have had a worldwind of a couple of weeks with Karlin! In fact, a lot of my time and energy since Kamren's birthday has been Karlin related!!! With her trip, and her birthday, and her baptism, it was a lot of Karlin! I hope she felt special, and loved, and important because she is very important to our family!

She is smart, and bright, and loving, and caring! She is also sassy, and spunky, and a tad bit bossy(I wonder where she got that from?!!!!) There are days when I look at her an realize that THIS is what my mom meant when she said that she couldn't wait for me to get one just like me!!! Well my mom got her wish! She is a mini Me!!! I hope that I can deal with her bull headed nature a little different from the way I was dealt with! I think I understand her personality a little more than my mom did because it is also the same type of personality I have! Who doesn't want everything her way!!! I am working very hard with her trying to minimize her fits and "my way or the highway" attitude! How can I not love her when I know exactly how her little mind works! At times I find myself snickering to myself as I watch her! I kind of feel like though it is sometimes a "gift" to have a strong willed personality! Not only are you not willing to take grief from other people you also tend to know what you want and how to get there! So we are embracing her little spirit and her attitude, hoping it will make her a stronger, more independent person!

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been blessed with to raise this little girl! She still loves to snuggle with us! Sometimes I find myself completely crazy from her rubbing fetish, but then I also miss it when I haven't had her sit next to me in a little while! She is such a good sister to her siblings, and I am grateful for their relationships! How lucky I feel to listen to them talk and play with each other! The other day, shortly after we had returned from Cancun, I was sorting laundry at my Moms house, and could hear the girls talking while in the shower. Kamren was telling Karlin that she mainly did her own hair while staying with my sister. I don't know if this is true or not, I haven't had the chance to ask my sister about this yet, but that is not the point! Karlin asked her how she did her own hair and she told her she just brushed it and that was it. I then hear Karlin tell her that if she were her daughter she would never let her do her own hair because she doesn't do a very good job. I couldn't help but laugh at their little conversation. It made me laugh at her combined honesty and her being "me"! I have a really hard time letting them do their own hair!

Here are a few little things about my little lady!!!

*She loves baby dolls!!! She will sit for hours doing their hair and changing their clothes. When you ask her when she wants anytime for any holiday she usually says a doll or a dog! The crazy thing is that is exactly what Kaylee used to say when she was about this age!!

*She loves to eat anything that I am eating! This can be good or bad! If I am on a healthy kick, so is she! If I am not as healthy, neither is she! I need to stay on the healthy side so I can make sure my kids are healthy too! :)

*She loves her brother! Anytime he gets in the least bit of trouble she is there, standing in front of him, telling me to leave him alone! He has needed pepper in his mouth, quite a few times in the last few weeks, and it is always Karlin running to him with a wet wash rag, and a drink of water to rescue him! How can I not love that she has so much compassion for him.

*The girl loves fashion!!! She loves to dress up, and figure out different outfits to wear to school. She is always the one looking for new ways to wear things and new ways to wear her hair! I am just glad she has a cute little style all her own! She always matches and always looks adorable, even when SHE picks her outfits out.

*She loves smoothies just as much as I do! I think we could both live off of smoothies and be happy doing it!

*She is still my snuggle bug! I am not sure when she is going to grow out of this fetish she has going, but she is always willing to snuggle with me. When I am tired or sad, I can always count on Karlin to come and give me loves!

*She is FINALLY free of night terrors!!! For the past 7 1/2 years she has had terrible screaming fits in her sleep that have happened sometimes nightly, sometimes a few times a night. But they are now gone!! It has been several months since she has had one, and I am soooo happy to report that she has grown out of them! I honestly, looking back, think it had more to do with needed to go to the bathroom because she had too small of a bladder to make it the whole night. So she would wake up screaming, trying to wake up to go the bathroom, but not able to fully wake up and be coherent enough to figure out what her body needed from her. Once we figured this out, we would carry her to the bathroom and set her on the toilet, she would do her business, and then go right back to sleep! Problem solved, finally!