The Boys

Will is a smart, hard-working, handsome son. He's the oldest, and he's great at it. Will is a great example to all his brothers and a huge help to me. Will loves football, lacrosse, and park skiing. He's in 10th grade at Olympus High School, has all advanced classes and is pulling straight A's.

Jackson has a great imagination and keeps us laughing. He is very creative and is great at drawing, writing and making up stories. He is my number 1 go-to-guy for babysitting; Such a great helper!! Jackson is in 8th grade at Evergreen Jr. High, is in advanced classes and is doing great.

Tyler is in the 6th grade and is my super athletic son. He is great at most sports but excels at football, lacrosse and basketball. Tyler is wild and crazy and always fun to be around. Tyler is great with his newest younger brother, Robbie. It is so sweet to see such an aggressive guy become so soft and kind to a baby brother. 

Gavin is almost 9 years old and such a great kid. Gavin is the most confident and brave kid that I know. He will disappear, off on his own, without a care in the world.  Gavin is a good looking kid with lots of girls that follow him around. Gavin loves most sports and especially loves park skiing. You will find him skiing backwards down the hill. Before leaving, anywhere, he makes sure his hair is combed perfectly. 

Brigham is the biggest "ham" of them all, and that must be why it is in his name. He is the sweetest little personality, and is so kind to everyone. Brigham is the biggest love bug; always hugging, kissing and snuggling with me. He is the biggest 6 year old you'll ever meet, but a super soft teddy bear inside. Brigham tries to do everything his older brothers do. He loved playing flag football, but is ready for the real stuff next year. He loves playing basketball and park skiing. 

Nathan is such a great kid. He is 5 years old and loves playing outside and playing inside. He enjoys watching YouTube tutorials on Minecraft games and then grabbing my cell phone or iPad and advancing in the game. He's a little quieter than the others, but still a fun, outgoing kid. Nathan is enjoying his last year of preschool and is already excited for Kindergarten to start next year. 

Preston is secretly my favorite son! He has such a great personality. Preston talks ALL THE TIME and asks a bazillion questions about everything. I love how inquisitive he is. If you are sad or angry, just spend 5 minutes with this kid and he'll make you not only smile but you'll be laughing. Preston is such a riot! He is a little mini version of all of the other boys. 

And then there's Robbie. He is a darling. He sleeps great, thank goodness! He's starting to smile and coo at me and the other boys. He reminds me of Benjamin Button with his grumpy old man faces that he makes. I love his huge dark, blue eyes and when he scrunches his forehead. So cute! He's also my favorite...shhh, don't tell!

Color Run

Yesterday was a super busy day with football season starting for three of the boys, but we managed to squeeze in a colorful and fun 5k before the madness began!  Our family has participated in the Color Run several times, and we've loved it every time. Only Will, Brigham and I were able to participate in yesterday's fun race. Here are some highlights...

Kindergarten Graduate!

Even though he looks like he finished the 2nd grade, this sweet guy is a recent Kindergarten graduate!

Brigham had a wonderful year. Spelling, reading and math came easily to him. He made several friends and played with everyone. He loved going to school but is thrilled to be moving on to the 1st grade where he gets to stay all day and eat lunch at school. 

His teacher Mrs. Mills handed out certificates with different candies for each child. Mrs. Mills explained that Brig's would ask several times a day when recess was, always full of energy and wanting to run out and play with friends. He received a Recess Pieces candy. Such a cleaver idea Mrs. Mills! The children all received different candies! 

The next morning he was getting ready for school and I reminded him there is no more school. His reply was, "yes I do, I'm in the first grade!"  Sweet boy, after summer you can go back to school. 

Congrats Brigham!! You're an awesome kid!!

Skiing

We love to ski. I love that the entire family (well, almost the entire family) loves to go skiing. It's Brigham's first year and he picked it up just as fast as Gavin, by only the second time down the hill. Not second time going to the mountain, his second time down the hill. The next time we went skiing, Brigham and I raced down the slope... and he won. He's too fast though. He needs to learn control a little bit more. He loves it and has lots of fun though.

Will is phenomenal . He tries new tricks, watches YouTube videos and practices as often as he can. Will skis backwards and then can do a 180 and face forward, going the same speed. He now does jumps and turns while he jumps off 20+ foot ramps. He shows me the videos afterwards. Yowza!! He recently skied on a half pipe.

Tyler is the only snow boarder in the family. He loves it. He is getting much better than last year too. Here he is boarding down the hill and catching a small jump. He landed it perfectly.  He also can board right foot in front, move the board parallel and then left foot in front. Pretty cool. The picture above look closely, he has his tongue sticking out as he concentrates. So funny!

Here's Gavin. Look closely, he's skiing BACKWARDS! Hmm, I wonder where he got that idea from! He copies everything Will does, except for those super high jumps. They are too high. And he's too young!  Will and Gavin have ski passes for Park City Mountain Resort where they go often, especially during Christmas break. But, when the family goes we head up to Alta or Snowbird together.

The snow is so beautiful I am so thankful we moved to Utah... the Greatest Snow on Earth. It's so fun skiing, sledding and playing in the snow. All the kids feel the same way. We love it here!

Outtakes

 

We took family pictures a few weeks ago in an apple orchard. It was fun, but it sure is hard getting 7 little, energetic bodies to hold still, smile, and not move for several minutes. Here are just a few of the outtakes of our adventure.

 

Look at cute little Nathan in the middle with his mean guy scowl.  Watch out, he's about to punch you out!

 

And then the next one is a tad too smiley. He is such a ham!

 

 

 
Preston kept eating apples the entire time we were there. So 99% of the pictures he has an apple in his hand and a mouthful as well.

 

I asked Will to smile and he gave me this sleezy pose.

 

 
Nathan is totally done with posing, Preston is still chomping away and Brig's is getting into it. What's up?

 More apple tasting.

I have no idea what Jackson is doing, but he sure is a cutie!!

 

 

 

I will be posting the real pictures later!! Stay tuned!



Kindergarten for Brigs

On Wednesday, August 28th, sweet Brigs started kindergarten. Since May, about 5 minutes after his preschool graduation, he's been asking when Kindergarten will start! The day, FINALLY, arrived.

He knew exactly where to go and what to do. Brigham had a fantastic days with lots of his good friends in the same class with him!

After school he did seem a little bummed. I asked him what was wrong and he was a little upset the teacher didn't assign him any homework! On Monday he was super thrilled to announce he had homework. Mrs. Mills sent home a packet of work to do everyday and bring back on Friday. Brig's sat at the bar and completed the entire packet in one sitting. Such a silly kid!

Science Birthday Party

 A few weeks ago we celebrated Brigham and Gavin's birthday by hosting a Science Party. It was fun to plan and fun to be part of.
Scott and Will, gladly, played the role of mad scientists and helped run the entire party. I have all these grand ideas of vacations and parties and Scott is the one who always pulls them off perfectly!

When the children came in they had to use a disinfectant hand rub  and then scan their hand on the iPad to make sure they had clearance to enter the party.
Next Will would hand them some nerdy glasses and a couple of antibiotics (Mike and Ike candies) that they needed to take before entering the lab.
While we were waiting for the other children to arrive, we made molecules in the kitchen by using toothpicks and mini marshmallows.

 
Scott held their attention by showing a few different science projects.

 Density test (above). Elephant toothpaste (below).

 

 
Slime. And a few others...

 We then headed outside to make fake snow.

 We handed out water bottles with balloons attached to the top. As they poured the powder (baking soda) fro the balloon into the bottle (containing vinegar) the balloon expanded.

 

 
Here is Brigham with his "girlfriend" Betty. They are inseparable. So cute!

 The perfect ending was the Diet Coke and Mentos trick. Such a fun party. The kids took their glasses, bottles with balloons and a bag filled with fun Science activities.

 
Two hours later, we held another Science Party for Jackson and Tyler!!

 
Scott attached the laptop to the TV in the kitchen and loaded a few fun videos to watch.

 
There was a competition between Tyler's Diet Coke bottle and Jackson's...Jackson's went higher and won!

Cupcakes for all! I sprinkled pop rocks on top of them. They were a huge hit!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOYS!!!