A Hiking We Will Go!

I woke up early this morning after a restless night! (Too much caffeine too late in the day!) Darin looked up at me briefly and I let him know I was going for a run. He half grunted and rolled back over. While running I was thinking about what we should do for the day. My dad and I had gone on a hike a couple days ago with Damon and my nephew Alex... so when I got home I announced to Darin that we would be going on the same hike as a family! Darin seemed pretty excited about it. I wasn't sure how Dominic would do, but I knew the other boys would do well. It ended up being a beautiful drive threw the A.F. canyon and a 3.6 mile hike with 4 boys in tow. Damon and Jaydin were total troopers and had no trouble making the trek. Colton also did a fantastic job of staying in the hiking backpack and saying "hi" to people as we passed by them on our quest to the waterfall. Dominic hiked in the whole way to the waterfall but umm... was not quite as easy to get OUT. Darin ended up carrying him on his shoulders for a good 2/3 of the way back. (It was "HOT" and uphill most of the way back!) It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to do some more hikes very soon. Darin has still yet to hike up to the "Y" so soon... very soon... he will know the pain... that is the Y! ;o)

Damon & Jaydin playing in the stream at the bottom of the falls.

Just after eating some PB&J

Standing in front of the falls. The waterfall is so powerful that you are literally standing in a perma-wet zone. LOVE the feel of the mist against my face!!

I wish I knew what this waterfall was called? I'm going to guess it's called Stewart's Cascade... that's what the sign says. ;o)

Father/Son Campout

Darin took the 3 oldest boys on the father son campout. They all reported it was a good time. I asked Damon if dad was cranky and he said "only when he realized we didn't have any tent poles!" OY! I got totally blamed for that one. I was the last one to fold up the tent and while the poles were NEXT to the tent... they weren't in the bag. Luckily.. Darin is an amazing problem solver... this is what he came up with!

It was pretty funny to hear the bishop (AKA our landlord) tell the story. It was something like... "we were setting up our tents when we heard a bunch of swearing coming from the parking lot. We raced over to find that YOU had stolen Darin's tent poles!" He had several offers of tents from people who had brought extras (WTH?) but alas... he stuck to his amazing design and the boys didn't complain of being cold or anything!! I sent the camera up with them and they came back with these few pics. Here are a couple of my 3 oldest boys all together!! LOVE IT!!

So yesterday was the last day of school. My dad had IM'd me earlier in the day and asked if wanted to go hike the "Y". I'd never done it and figured it wouldn't kill me. We were planning on going earlier but didn't end up going until around 11. So up the mountain we went with all 4 boys, my dad and his brother Mike. I had no idea what I was in for. My boys did fantastic. No fighting, no whining, no begging to die. They were seriously amazing. They enjoyed the little wildlife we saw along the way. Mostly lizards and butterflies and one rattlesnake. Dominic actually hiked up about 1/4 of the way and then enjoyed being carried up the rest of the way by his grandpa and Uncle Mike. (Mike carried him about 1/2 the way and I didn't get a picture!!!) Dominic also walked the whole way down. Anyway... here are some pics of our adventure. It was so much fun. Thanks uncle Mike and Dad for letting us crash your hike. Next time, I'm going when it's a little cooler outside and maybe after it's rained so the trail isn't so slick!

Uncle Mike and his rock. He hiked to the "Y" with some other missionairies when he was at the MTC and so, he takes a pic with this rock everytime he comes to town.

All 4 boys stopped by Mikes rock.

Sitting on the "Y"

View from the top.

Uncle Mike and Dom. They were so cute together!

We did it!!

I carried Cole up about 2/3 of the way in this. Dad carried him up the rest. Aren't they cute?

Dom with Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Boys!

Saturday was the big SHABANG! It went off pretty easily although I was a little stressed and it did get down to the wire. We rented the pavilion up at the park and although I was told city soccer would be over before the party started, competition league tryouts were just beginning as our party arrived. We even had to have the registration people for the league move all their equipment so we could use the pavilion! It was a little crazy.. but the kids had a whole lot of fun playing in the water!! I'm SO glad that the big party is over with. One less thing to worry about this month!
It was so fun to have so much family there. I'm way disappointed that I forgot my camera!! My SIL took some pics so maybe I will try to get some from her. AHH!! I could kick myself.
Darin's oldest brother wasn't able to make it to the party Saturday. (Seriously they have 5 kids and 4 of them play soccer, lacrosse, etc... I can't even imagine how they manage to make it to all the events.. I am going nutso with 2 kids in activities.) They were really bummed that they couldn't make it and so they invited us up for a little party at their house last night. We had so much fun roasting hotdogs and brats over the fire pit and eating yummy salads. AND... they made this gorgeous gumball cake for the boys!

SO CUTE!!! They all devoured the cake and we had A LOT of fun hanging out with them. We realized as we were nearing their house that we had not been up there in WAY TOO LONG! When they first moved here we would go up there frequently and we always had a lot of fun. SOOO... we promise to make it up there more often. We also got to watch a video of them doing the "IFLY" in Ogden. It's this WAY COOL machine that makes you feel like you are skydiving! Can't wait to go on a double date with Mark and Dianne and do some flying!
Thanks to everyone who helped me survive this week. I even managed to run a 5k on Saturday morning at Thanksgiving point! We are SO grateful to have such amazing families and friends. THANKS! :o)

Happy Birthday Damon

So today is Damon's 9th Birthday!!! We are having a big party this afternoon for all 3 of the older boys at the park up the street. I'll take lots of pics but for now.. for your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of Damon with his friend Bryson. They built this fantastic fort and his mom was nice enough to take a pic and send it to me. What do you think?

Mother's Day Card by Jaydin

My cousin-in-law posted her card from her daughter so I thought this would be fun! It is a fill-in-the-blank card so the red words are what preceded the blank!

My Mom is Special

My Mom is special because she's nice and osum.
I like it when my Mom is happy and hving fun.
My Mom can do many things! I think she's best at hving fun and playing.
My Mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by helping her and watching my bruthers.
My Mom is as pretty as a butterfly and flawers.
My Mom is smart! She even knows that she is the best of all.
Signed Jaydin Date 05/07/09

I'm so excited to have a child with my ability to flatter people! ;o)

Colton is Crawling!!

I admit that Colton has taken his time to learn to crawl, pull himself up etc... he is no where near walking which I am SO okay with. I think that his trip to Primary Children's Hospital at just 4 weeks old changed me. And I hold him ALOT!! Thus... the reason why he is a little bit behind his brothers when it comes to milestones at certain ages! Oh well. He is super smart and already has a couple of very recognizable words and one sign. ;o) Here's a little video of our little guy crawling!