Christmas Surprises

Christmas is always exciting. The rush of anticipation and anxiousness mixed with a good sugar high is a mark of the season. We were thankful for each other, the many blessings from our Heavenly Father and to not be dealing with a flood disaster like last year. Here is a festive snipet of our Christmas this year including surprises from Santa, surprise guests at Grandma-ma's (the Utah Crew wasn't expected to arrive until the 26th, and surprises at Grandma & Grandpa's. The biggest surprise was the refilling Christmas tree at Grandma's house. Never put anything past Santa and Cheryl!

All Dressed Up

I resolved a long time ago that if we never had any girls in our family I could still make boys look cute. And the benefit is they take a lot less time to get ready than a house full of girls would which makes more time for me! The Sunday before Christmas I dress the boys in coordinating but not matching outfits for church. Usually Scott and I coordinate with the boys as well--it's that whole theme thing I have. Anyway, here are my handsome big and little men:


Bradley: Almost 10-1/2


Bryson: Almost 8


Blake: Almost 5


Brock: 2 on January 2nd.

I am so thankful for these boys in my life. I am a different person today because of what each of them brings to my life. You think you know what you want when you're just starting out as a newly married couple. Turns out life throws some really funny curve balls at you. For me, the total girly girl, non-camper or outdoorsy anything, hates to get dirty or have dirt in the house Mom, got 4 darling boys, who wouldn't trade all the dirt and stinky shoes for anything!

Johnny Appleseed Day

We are so fortunate to go to an elementary school that has some truly amazing teachers. Bradley and now Bryson has Mrs. Bretzing, who is one of the most inventive, caring, patient, creative (I could go on and on) teachers I have ever seen. She is an expert at showing the kids how what they are learning applies to the world outside the classroom. She is famous for her garden on the west side of the school where the kids plant vegetables and sunflowers, chart their growth, harvest the crop and get to take some home after a tasting day at school.


On this occasion they were doing a unit on Johnny Appleseed. They worked on a play including costumes and scenery. One thing I loved about this play is that it incorporated poetry that the kids memorized into the story of Johnny Appleseed.


Bryson was one of four narrators and he memorized his part all by himself. Scott and I were very proud of him. One of Bryson's friends was the younger Johnny Appleseed. It was hysterical. The whole class did a great job!


Behind the apple tree curtains they had apple pie and ice cream for refreshments after the play. You can't really tell from the pictures but the classroom was completely full of parents and grandparents. I'm sure we were a fire hazzard--but a really talented and tasty one! Great job Bryson!

Halloween with Character

This Halloween Chris & Cassi's kids and our kids dressed up like Disney Characters. I mentioned in an earlier post I like themes. My life is just happier that way. I am such a lame mom to take away the fun of letting my kids choose what they want to be for Halloween but such is life. Someday they'll torture their own kids!


Bradley as Indiana Jones (Hey, if the ride is at Disneyland we felt like it should count).


Bryson as the energetic but momentarily upset Stitch.


Blake as Mr. Incredible. Enough said.


Brock as the loveable Nemo, who sometimes wanders away from his parents and gets lost (See the June 2009 post about Disneyland to catch up on that story).


We ventured to Mom and Dad's block party where as you can see Brock won at the cupcake walk. We played here for a while then went to our own block party, and finally on to Grandma-ma's for one last sugar rush before bed. We should've gone into dentistry!

Fall in AZ

Fall or Autumn really only exists in people's wardrobes here in sunny Arizona. I'll give the weather credit for about two weeks in October or November where we can turn the A/C off and enjoy a few breezes before the heaters go on. But that's it. At best it's a 2 week season here. We still try to fool ourselves and bundle up in a jacket in the evenings but really, who needs a jacket when it's 75 degrees outside?


There's the cutest pumpkin patch nearby and we love to go there each year and let the kids pick pumpkins. The whole "this is what people do in Autumn" charade. I bundled the kids for the journey to the pumpkin patch and we were all sweating by the time we got there. But aside from all the sweating and needless jackets which produced needless laundry later, we had a great time picking the perfect pumpkins!


Blake is clearly ready to run and find another pumpkin.


Brock enjoyed being fed fruit snacks as a trade to pose for pictures. He had hay all over himself by the time we were done.


I have pictures of each of the boys when they were about 2 here at this pumpkin patch. I can't believe how big Bradley and Bryson are.


In the end we had to find a wheelbarrow to load our hoard of gourds. Because it was so close to Halloween we didn't carve them (we came home with 5). We just let them tan outside the front door!

Partridge Family Reunion--The BIG One!

It had been 20 years since our last Partridge Family Reunion with all my cousins on my Dad's side. We love seeing them, it's just hard coordinating a gazillion schedules to get together. The last two times we saw each other were at Grandpa's funeral and again at Uncle Don's funeral. I am so glad we were able to be together during those times and share our love for each other and funny memories of the past. But we were due for a happier reason to get together. Thanks to our cousin Tanja and Aunt Ann we all (really almost every single soul!) made it to the same place at the same time to celebrate the Great Pear Tree from which we all fall!

During the first reunion sometime in the late 80's we had reunion shirts that said "Guess Who Survived the Partridge Family Renuion." Guess was big then. So this time each family (Dad's, Aunt Ann's & Aunt Maureen's) each made up their own shirts. Everyone was impressed with the creativity of the families. Here's our shirt:


On the back it said "Something always happens whenever we're together" with all 25 names on the back. It nearly took an act of Congress to get our shirts finished to everyone's satisfaction but come on, they're super cute!

Our last reunion comprised of a high spirited softball game. Going along with the saying "If it's not broke, don't fix it!" we divided into teams for a kids game and a bigger kids game (because really, all those adults out there--they're just super sized kids.) Here's some pix from both games. The jury is still out as to who had more fun.


On the kid's team we mixed up the families so the kids got to play with people they didn't know. We quickly learned names and faces and tried to keep straight who was on which team.


Heavy Hitter!


I'm not sure what Bradley is trying to get Brock to leave alone. It looks like a leaf to me--but who am I to doubt the intentions of a sweet protective brother.


Winding up for the Grand Slam!


This is just about my favorite picture ever! Don't worry Dad, there IS baseball in Heaven!


A team full of mixed emotions. Perhaps some of them didn't know they were losing. . .


Looks like Bryson tagged Bradley while Brock stole first. I'm not even sure how that play works but the boys had a blast. Blake is not pictured much here because he went AWOL to play with Aunt Stephanie and Hyrum at the playground.


Ahh, the bigger kids game. All our ducks--Partridge's that is--lined up in a row.


Dad is out to prove the Patriarch still has moves!




We can always count on Kaley to show the boys how it's done--right!


So there are about a million pictures from the reunion but here are some cute ones from all the bubbles the kids blew. These were not your ordinary bubbles. They were Super Bubbles that really only Kryptonite or a heavy foot could destroy.












Bless whoever decided to make all 92 million kids run down to the end of the field and back again. (Ironically here, Blake is in focus while the rest of his world is a little blurry. Again, not so different from how life really is for Blake!)


The group on the run back.


Aunt Ann had a super fun game where you run down to the end of the field (again--we love wearing the kids out!) and stomp on--or pop in some way--a balloon. Inside the balloon was a piece of paper with an animal of some kind that you had to act out on your way back to the starting side of the field. Here is Scott Moo-ing. . . I think.


The last game was a kickball game. Kickball is one of Bradley's favorites! Unfortunately, the camera didn't do him justice during the game so here is Bradley at first ready to run.


However, the camera did capture the following pictures of Brett and Ryan:








I think Ryan won that round!


This last picture just about sums it up. The kids (teeney, not so teeney and freakin' huge) were happy, hungry and exhausted. It was a great reunion! Hope it doesn't take us 20 more years to do it again!

Bradley Turns 10!

It's amazing how old you can feel when one of your kids turns 10. That's a whole decade. Two short of a dozen. The letter X in Roman Numerals. I can't believe he's 10!


So, I'm a theme person. It makes my whole life easier when I can squeeze it into a theme of some kind. Bradley's birthday was Lego themed. So Blake assisted me in creating the LegoMan centerpiece for the kitchen island. The Piece de Resistance as it were.


You never know what will bring such a spirit of peace and harmony to a home. On this occassion it was a free frisbee. Who knew?




Here's our spread with all of Bradley's favorites. HOMEMADE (pick yourself up off the floor now) Ice cream sandwiches, M&M's, Popcorn and Starbursts. Pretty much a dentist's nightmare but you only turn 10 once!


Way to go Brad! Happy Birthday Dude!