The Summers Family

2012-01-22T18:02:00.000-08:00

2012 Houston Nationals

Jake took 4th place this weekend at the Houston Nationals.

First day of school Texas style

2011-08-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

Wow things sure get started early here in Texas. I wake the boys up at 5:40am and have them at the bus stop for pick up at 6:35am. School starts at 7:40am. I could drive them to school but with a new baby and having the bus stop literally at my front door and the fact that the bus ride is Brandon's favorite part of school the decision was too easy.

Here are the boys waiting for the bus. Yes it is still dark outside when they get on the bus. It is also 85-90 degrees with humidity at 6:30am. Yeah love the Texas weather! Not!

I have to admit I got cried a little when the boys drove away. I can't believe my Jake is in 5th grade. He grew so fast. Jake really likes the new school and has already made new friends. Brandon is, was my baby and now he rides a bus to school and is in kindergarten. He seems to little to go to school. He goes to school all day long. It is weird not having him around. He really likes school and loves to tell me everything he did at school. He has done so well with all the changes in our family. The move to Texas, new baby and school starting. He is a little trooper.

Emma started 7th grade this year. What??? She turned 12 this summer and blossomed into a young lady. She tested for the gifted and talented classes at her school and passed. So she gets to take a language class this year. She chose Spanish. She seems very happy with her schedule and new school. She also rides the bus but doesn't leave until 7:20am so we have a little time to ourselves in the morning. She usually uses any extra time to hold Natalie.

I think we are really going to like school here in Texas. So far I am very impressed and have only heard good things about the schools my kids attend. Here's to another successful school year!

Introducing Natalie...

2011-08-29T11:09:00.001-07:00

This is a lovely picture of what I looked like a few days before Natalie was born.

Natalie Kaye Summers was born on Wednesday August 17th at 7:55am via c-section. She weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. The surgery and delivery went very well for both of us.

The proud father.

First family picture with all 6 of us. Love Brandon's face in the photo.

I had to put a bow in her hair so she would look more like a girl.

Emma is so happy to finally have her little sister.Brandon is pretty excited to be a big brother.

Jake just loves her. He is going to be a great big brother to a little sister.

This is my sweet Aunt Linda who came to stay with us while I had the baby and take care of the other kids. She is a blessing.

Natalie in her going home outfit the kids picked out for her.

Getting ready to go home. This picture cracks me up. I caught her in a great pose huh?

Just a few pictures I took of her since she has been home.

Natalie is a sweet little baby and so far very even tempered and happy. I hope it lasts. We are so thankful to have her in our family. It is amazing to me to have not even had her home for 2 weeks yet it feels like she has been in our family all along. The kids are constantly asking to hold her or feed her. Natalie is definately loved and then some.

Natalie Kaye Summers

2011-08-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

Dang computers....

2011-07-17T18:20:00.001-07:00

Well, since my new computer was having trouble publishing my posts I decided to use my old computer. So you can read my old post I wrote about 10 days ago below.
Hopefully I will get things figured out soon so I will be able to post pictures of the house, the baby and the kids first day of school.
Life is good and we feel very blessed. I will feel even more blessed when I get to bring home a healthy baby girl! Can't wait! Hopefully only 3 1/2 more weeks! Fingers crossed!

Texas Update

2011-07-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

I do know where my camera is but I have not taken any photos since school got out. Not even any pictures of packing the house, the plane ride here, unpacking, the new house, the kids in the new house. Nothing. So this will be another photoless post.
So.....Texas is HOT! The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane almost a month ago was how weird my flip flops felt in the heat. I don't know how to explain it except it feels like they are melting and sticking to your feet at the same time.
We are adjusting to the heat though. Living in Las Vegas for 2+ years is helping us adjust I think. We utilize the community pool frequently. It is great fun and I can just sit in the 1 foot 8 inch section and relax while the kids swim. It is great.
The kids are adjusting just great. Emma was able to go to Girl's Camp a week ago and had a great time. She is not technically in YW's until August 4th but they are letting her go anyway. She has made some really great friends. Jake has also quickly made friends and attended his first pack meeting this week and had a great time. Brandon is adjusting to Texas life and new people and has lots and lots of questions about why we are even here in Texas.
I enrolled Jake and Brandon into their new elementary school a couple of weeks ago and it looks wonderful. We were able to get a little tour of the school and Brandon said "I want summer to be over so I can go to school tomorrow." I really hope he feels the same way the first day of school. :)
The house is pretty much put away. There are a few boxes still needing to be sorted and put away. We even have pictures put up so it looks like "our" house. The garage is another story but that is not my territory. Thank goodness.
I am currently 33 1/2 weeks along. I have been told by my new doctor that she will schedule my c-section at 38 1/2 weeks. So I only have to wait 5 more weeks to see my very wiggly, busy baby girl. I hope it goes fast. I dread nighttime because I can't sleep very well and I am NEVER comfortable. Anyway, we are almost ready with the baby things washed, sorted, etc. So we are ready for her to come.
I have been busy getting all the kids school things bought and ready as well. They start school a week after the baby comes.
We miss all our Las Vegas friends but truly know that this is where we are suppose to be.

Yeehaw we made it to Texas!

2011-06-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

Jake and Matt drove for 4 days or 35 hours depending on how you want to count it. They left Sunday the 12th and got to Houston on the 15th. Emma, Brandon and I flew in the night of the 15th. We stayed in a hotel for 2 nights and then got sick of that and stayed at the new house for 2 nights even though the moving trucks had not brought our things yet. Wonderful people from our new ward brought over air mattresses, sheets, pillows, blankets and towels.
The kids and I went to Walmart for the essentials. Luckily the house we are renting came with a fridge and washer and dryer. So we were set for the weekend.
The moving truck finally came on Sunday afternoon. It is now 10:45pm and we all have our own beds to sleep in tonight! YEAH!!
So once I get my house all put together and organized I will take some pictures and post them.
So far we all like Houston. We have even made some new friends already! Yeah for church.
More Texas adventure to come....

Bye Bye Las Vegas, Hello Houston

2011-06-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

So we are all packed and ready to go. The moving trucks are coming today and then they should be on their way to Texas hopefully by tomorrow.
Matt and Jake will be driving to Texas over the weekend and part of next week.
Emma, Brandon and I are staying in Las Vegas with friends until Wednesday night and then we fly to Houston.
Hopefully the moving trucks will be to Houston by Wednesday or Thursday and we can get settled by the weekend.
So.....who knows the next time I will be posting a blog. All I know is that it will be from Texas!

Mother's Day 2010

2011-05-17T16:04:00.001-07:00

For Mother's day this year the family took me out to dinner on Saturday night. I chose Red Robin because I was in the mood for a big juicy burger and their fries. I also ended up ordering a raspberry shake. It was delicious and made me happy!

Saturday night Brandon gave me some sparkly pink/orange nail polish so I would have "pretty nails" on Mother's Day. So I dutifully painted my nails. :)

Sunday morning I recieved a few more gifts before church. Jake gave me some of his homemade coupons, Emma gave a bag of goodies for a movie night as well as $1 to rent a movie from Redbox. I also got a travel pillow since the kids knew I was going to Texas the next weekend. Brandon had made me a necklace at Joy School too. I wore that to church as well.

Finally I was given a variety of chocolate because my sweet family knows me so well.

Here is a picture of my darling kids who make me a proud mom and gave me a great Mother's day!

Brandon's Amazing Talents

2011-05-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

Last week at Joy School the kids had a talent show. So Brandon decided to show how well he can draw a monster.

His other talent is his amazing trick of washing his eyeballs. He learned this trick from his Grandpa Milo. I did the best I can to try to document this amazing trick.

First you take both of your eyeballs out of your eye sockets. Then you carefully wash your eyeballs in your mouth.

You can't really tell from this picture but he put his eyeballs in backward.

So he needed to switch his eyeballs around.

Ahh there much better!

Easter 2011

2011-05-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

This year the Primary hosted an Easter breakfast and egg hunt the day before Easter. I didn't take any pictures of breakfast. Brandon had a good time hunting for his eggs and did quite well for himself. Emma and Jake ran off too fast and I wasn't about to chase after them just to get a picture to blog.

Saturday evening we colored Easter eggs. The kids always have a fun time coloring the eggs. Brandon had way to many questions though about how the eggs turn colors.

Easter morning we got up a little earlier than usual because we have church at 9am. The kids checked out their baskets really quick and then had to get ready for church. I think everyone was happy with their Easter baskets this year.

Brandon carefully trying to open a plastic egg so all the jellybeans don't fall out.

After church we had a quick lunch with Matt before he had to head to the airport to fly to Texas for work. After Matt left the kids had another egg hunt in the backyard with the eggs they had colored.

I love how Jake chose to carry his basket around his neck.

Somehow I forgot to take a picutre of the kids in their new Easter clothes. You will just have to trust me that Emma looked beautiful and the boys looked handsome in their matching ties.

Mormon Fort in Las Vegas

2011-05-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

During Spring Break we decided to finally go to the Mormon Fort here in Las Vegas. We took our lunch and some friends with us too. There is a little museum that tells you about the history of Las Vegas which included some Mormon pioneers. After you go through the museum you can go see a recreation of part of the Mormon fort. Here are just a few pictures of what we saw there.

Handcarts

Inside the fort

One entrance to the fort

This looked like where some people would live while keeping watch over the fort.

Emma pretending to protect the fort.

Baby #4....

2011-04-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

Emma made this darling cake to celebrate the news! This is an old ultrasound but I love this profile of my little girl!

It's a GIRl!!! We are very excited about the new little girl coming soon to our family!

Jake's 2010-2011 Wrestling Season

2011-04-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Jake ended up having a pretty good 2nd year wrestling this season. It took a while but toward the end of the season things started to click pretty well for him. He ended up placing 3rd, 3rd & 4th at his last 3 tournaments. He was able to defeat a couple of other wrestlers for the first time that he previously had not been able to defeat.

The You Tube link below is a compilation of Jake's last 4 matches at the Southern Nevada Finals. Jake ended up taking 4th after some pretty hard fought battles.

This is the face his opponent sees just before the match begins. I think the little smirk is for me when I took the picture but it could also be for intimidation. :)

First Medal of the season

Oh I forgot wrestlers don't smile

Jake and Matt with their trophys and plaques

A good smile on his face for a great year!

Here is the link of some highlights of his last tournament.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVMXFXlZ_KQ

2010-2011 was a good wrestling season and we look forward to another great year this fall.

Cubscout Blue & Gold Dinner

2011-04-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

It was time once again for the annual Cubscout Blue and Gold dinner. This years theme was Hawaiian luau. So in keeping with the theme, Jake made a hawaiian shirt. The decorations on the shirt are actually Finding Nemo fruit snacks.

After the dinner and awards were given out the kids all tried the limbo and hula hooping.

I tried to get a picture of Brandon hula hooping but everytime I snapped a picture he had already dropped the hula hoop. Emma and Jake didn't do too bad though. Here is Jake recieving his award for his awesome cake he (we) made. Always a fun time at the Cubsout Blue and Gold dinner.

Roos N' More

2011-04-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

My good friend and neighbor who runs a preschool invited Brandon and I to her house to enjoy something called Roos n' More. It is a traveling mini petting zoo. They brought with them, an armadillo, a snake, a parrott, a monkey, an otter, a baby kangaroo and one other animal I can't remember what it was. Brandon was a little apprehensive with the animals but still had a good time. Here are just a few pictures of our time with the animals.

When it was my turn to pet the monkey it decided to jump on my head. Not one of my favorite moments but I made the best of it. All the little kids thought it was funny. It sat on my head for about 5 minutes or so until the zoo keeper lady convinced the monkey to get off.

School Awards

2011-04-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

I am a very proud mom to be able to attend assemblies on a regular basis to see my kids get awards for all their hard work.

Here is Jake with his Honor Roll certificate and Great Attendance award. Emma has been doing great in middle school. She had been taking all accelerated classes and getting staright A's! It is also nice to see that she is getting "Outstanding Citizen" awards too for her good behavior. I am a proud mom! Way to go kids!

Emma's Middle School Choir Concert

2011-04-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

Emma started middle school this year and is in choir. They had their first performance this Winter. The beginning choir is huge! I did my best to take pictures that you could actually see her in but in some of them it is a little like playing "Where's Waldo?".

Here she is in her seat waiting for her turn to perform.

The beginning choir....

Walking back to her seat... It was a nice performance and most importantly Emma enjoyed herself.

Brandon's Christmas Program

2011-04-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

Brandon has been going to Joy School 2 times a week since September. During the month of December they have all been working on a Christmas program. Whenever Brandon is in a program or has to do something in front of other people I always hope for the best but expect nothing. I was pleasently surprised by his performance in the Christmas program and even more excited that I actually caught some of it on camera.

This was the beginning of the program when they were singing some songs. He was not really into at this point.

Brandon played a wiseman and did a great job.

He did finally get into the singing at the end of the program. He even did some of the actions!

All the kids drew pictures of baby Jesus and here is Brandon's version...

"Jesus in the manger"

Christmas Eve Pajamas

2011-04-10T16:57:00.000-07:00

The traditional opening of new pajamas on Christmas Eve....

Christmas 2010

2011-04-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

Here is Brandon getting Santa's chocolate milk ready.

Brandon was so excited to leave Santa's chocolate milk, cookies, and carrotts for the reindeer.

Christmas morning, everyone is ready to go see what Santa brought.

Wow! Santa ate his cookies and chocolate milk and the reindeer ate their carrotts.

(More Christmas pictures will be posted later after I download them from a new camera.)

I have a good excuse!

2011-04-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have not posted anything on my blog since Christmas. Even that was just our Christmas card, not even the annual Christmas post. Sad, sad, sad. I have looked at my blog several times in the past 3+ months and have had absolutely no energy or desire to update it. I have been taking pictures but have not downloaded any of them to post.

I HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE!

I found out I was pregnant in the middle of December. We are all very excited but the pregnancy has obviously put a few things on the back burner. Having enough energy to take care of the kids, make dinner, clean house, run errands, etc. sucked the life right out of me. Not to mention feeling sick for 3 months. Anyway, I am feeling better now, not sick anymore just tired. I will be 20 weeks along on Wed. I can't believe I am already halfway there.

The baby is due August 24th but will be delivered about a week before that by c-section. I am really not looking forward to a hot summer of being pregnant but I am so excited to have another baby that I don't really care about the heat.

Look for upcoming posts on what the family has been up to for the past 3+ months.

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

2010 Thunderbird Takedown Tournament

2010-12-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

Jake's first wrestling tournament of the year. It was a takedown tournament which basically means you get points for getting control rather than pinning the other wrestler. The first video clip is his first match. It is rather long but Jake won in overtime if you want to watch. Please try to ignore all my yellling and screaming on both video clips.

Jake has worked really hard this year to get ready for the tournaments. He has improved so much from last year. This is only his second year wrestling and he can hold his own with kids who have been wrestling 3-4 years.

Jake got 3rd place in the take down tournament. That is best he has ever done. We hope it is a sign of a great wrestling season.

Natural History Museum with Brandon

2010-12-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

Brandon and I were invited to go on a field trip to the Natural History Museum. We have been wanting to go for sometime so we were excited about the invite.

This is Brandon with 2 of his friends and some kid I don't know. I am not sure what this particular exhibit is called but for Brandon it was called "The animals with big horns."

I seriously hate birds and I didn't not enjoy this exhibit but I thought I would take a picture in front of it to show some bravery. The picture doesn't show the nasty ostrich taller than me!

I thought this was cool. Brandon is standing inside the fish tank. They had Dori and Nemo fish in the tank. I was impressed that Brandon would stand "inside" the fish tank. I had to go first to show him that it was not scary.

Digging for fossils. Brandon really liked this exhibit. He didn't want to leave when it was time to move on.

A coy pond with big fish and turtles.

Brandon spotted this and wanted his picture taken with it. In the far right corner of the glass case is a miniature replica of the Easter Island statue. Brandon recognized it from the Night at the Museum movie. Brandon kept repeating the line "hey dum dum, give me gum gum!"

No pictures with the dinosaurs. Their roar was a little too scary for Brandon. We did have a fun time though.

Love my little guy!

Breakfast with Santa

2010-12-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

Today our ward Primary had a breakfast with Santa. It was really nice and a lot of fun. The food was yummy too. Only Emma and Brandon were able to go because Jake was at his wrestling tournament.

Enjoying their breakfast

Making crafts

The finished product
Emma and Santa. I think she is getting too big for this. :(

Brandon and Santa. This year he asked for LEGO's and monster trucks.
Yeah for Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Turkey Day 2010

2010-11-29T15:47:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving this year was spent at home with just the 5 of us. Matt went and played football in the morning. So the kids and I got started on our dinner preparations. We all had fun making our Thanksgiving feast together. We used my mom's china and made some new and old recipes this year.

The table before we all sat down to eat.

Brandon finishing off the sparkling cider.Just documenting who attending Thanksgiving this year.

That would be...Jake, Brandon, Emma,
Matt and Melissa.

We had a fun day hanging out and eating ALL day.

Matt and I braved the stores at midnight and did some shopping.

The kids were finally feeling better after being sick for a week so we went to Bass Pro shop and out to lunch on Friday. Saturday we stayed home and relaxed until we were ready to break out the Christmas decorations. It was a nice Thanksgiving spent at home!

Just for fun...here is a LEGO creation Brandon made all by himself. I was so impressed I told him I wanted to take a picture and put it on our blog. So here it is.

Emma's Spunk n Spice Fall Performance

2010-11-29T10:02:00.000-08:00

Emma has been in a little singing group for a year now. They just put on their fall show. It was all about being "Thankful". It was really fun. Emma had a couple of solo parts and a speaking part. She is the singing group with two of her good friends Taryn and Julia.

We are thankful for Emma and for sharing her talents.

Firefighter Brandon

2010-11-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

Brandon and I were invited to go on a field trip to a fire station. Since Brandon wants to be a firefighter when he grows up we were excited to go. Here he is waiting anxiously for the tour to begin.

Brandon inside the fire truck.

Me and Brandon with 2 fire fighters dressed in all their gear. They had a race to see who could get their gear on the fastest. It took them less than a minute.

Brandon said he wanted to be the boss of all the firefighters so we had to get a picture of him with the fire chief. The fire chief even let Brandon sit in his truck.
Here he is with his new firefighter helmet and his new badge.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-04T16:49:00.000-07:00

Emma and Jake have been begging me for a few years to have a Halloween party. I finally gave in this year. They each were allowed to invite 5 friends. So I had 12 kids to entertain for 4 hours. I made lots of yummy food (at least that is what the kids said) and planned a bunch of games. I had the kids entertained with games and food for 3 of the 4 hours. Then the just danced around, hung out and ate more food the last hour. Emma and Jake thanked me for the party quite a few times so I guess they had fun. Here are a few pictures from the party.

The Food.

Homemade rootbeer with dry ice. My favorite.

Grab the ghost game.

Waiting in line for "pin the wart on the witch"Brandon pinning the wart on the witch.Mr. Bones Bobbing for applesTriumphant!Brandon would not put his face in the water so he held the apple over the bucket and put the stem in his mouth. Hey, you do what you gotta do. :)
Emma attempting to get her apple.

Hanging out and dancing.

The Elementary School had a small carnival. All the kids decided they wanted a balloon. Jake and Brandon wanted motorcycles and Emma got an airplane. Can you see it?

We went to Richfield, Ut for the 5 day weekend to visit family and go trick-or -treating. It was only 25-30 degrees when went trick- or- treating. It was so cold. We didn't go to very many houses but the kids still ended up with plenty of candy.

Here they are in their costumes all bundle up for the cold.

Brandon was a fireman.

Jake was the Prince of Persia.

Emma was a princess.

We had a fun Halloween holiday and visit with family in Utah.

Catching up

2010-10-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

I have been neglecting my blog. So I finally sat down and did some catching up. I made 3 posts with more to come another time. Enjoy catching up with the Summers family.

Jake's 9th Birthday

2010-10-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

Jake's 9th birthday was Sunday, Oct. 17. So on Saturday the 16th we went out to lunch after a scout field trip. That is why Jake is wearing his scout uniform. Jake chose Tony Roma's for his birthday lunch.

Jake loves ribs!!
On Sunday, Jake's birthday we let him open his presents before church.

No birthday would be complete without new books!!
This shirt pretty much says it all. When I saw it I knew I needed to get it for Jake.
Here is my attempt at a LEGO cake. No judging. Jake loved it and that is all that counts.
Getting ready to blow the candles out.We love this boy more and more every year. We are so blessed to have him in our family.

Happy Birthday Jake!!

Springs Preserve

2010-10-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

Jake's cubscout den had a field trip to Springs Preserve. It basically shows you and tells you about all the different animals found here in Las Vegas. It also has the history of Las Vegas with trains and recreations of the land auction. It also has other environmental things to learn about. We all went as a family with Jake and his den and had a fun time.

This is a display that shows how far certain animals can jump.

I love these next action shots of the kids jumping to see which animal they match with.

Brandon riding the desert tortoise.

Obviously a picture under a giant butterfly.

Mammoth.

Brandon and another turtle.

Sitting on a huge snake.

This was the exhibit of the land auction. We got a little silly with the statues but it was fun.

First Day of School 2010

2010-10-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

Ok so technically it was like the 4th day of school. I kept forgetting every morning in the choas of getting Emma out the door and Jake started at home to take their picture. Anyway, here are my cute kids on Thursday of the first week of school. :)

Jake is in 4th grade and started the school year out home schooling. That is why he isn't wearing Standard Student Attire. Jake just went back to public school 2 weeks ago.

Emma is in 6th grade this year which means she is in midde school. YIKES!!

Brandon has not started school but could not be left out. He does start school next year and is very excited about that.

Marysvale Trip with The Medleys

2010-09-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

My family (The Medleys) all met in Marysvale, Utah the week before school started. It was so fun to get everyone together. The last time we all got together was 2 years ago. Brothers and sister, sister-in-laws and brother-in-laws. Aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. We all stayed at my dad's RV park for 3 days. We did a lot in those 3 days.

We played Trivial Pursuit a lot while eating peanuts and m&m's which is a Medley family tradition. The kids went horseback riding. We went on a ride in the mountains for 4 hours and had a blast. While in the mountains we panned for gold in the stream, went on nature walks, ate treats and had rock tumbling contests which consists of throwing the biggest rock you can carry off the cliff and see whose goes the furthest. We had lots of yummy food to eat at the "The Garage" (the restaurant my dad owns). We did take a family picture but that will be posted later. There was also lots and lots of talking, and laughing.

Horseback Riding

Getting geared up for the ride in the mountains.

The kids playing in one of the streams. Emma, Jake, Rachel and Leah(cousins from Michigan) Emma's discovery
Chillin with dad in the mountainsPanning for gold with Grandpa MiloMe and my dad Rock throwing contest

View from the top

Matt, me, Marshall (my brother) and his wife Nadine, my dad, Kate(my sis-in-law)and Mark(my brother).

Me and my dirty but cute family.
It is always fun to get together with my family and always so sad to say goodbye. Until next time Medley family!! We love you!!

Shark Reef Adventure and then some

2010-09-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

For an added surprise for Emma's birthday we all went to the Shark Reef. The kids have been wanting to go since we moved to Las Vegas. Emma and Jake won some coupons for the Shark Reef at the end of the school year so... off we went.

It was a pretty cool place . You could have your own personal narration throughout the whole thing with these little hand held devices. (not pictured). Anyway, I thought the jellyfish were the best part. Jake loved hanging out at the touch pool touching the stingrays. We finally had to tell him it was time to move on to see something else. Matt and Jake were the only ones in our family brave enough to touch the stingrays. I attempted it a few times but chickened out in the end. Emma and Brandon would having nothing to do with the stingrays.

Emma really liked the sea turtles. I thought the saw shark was pretty cool too. Matt's favorite part was walking through the water tunnel. I tried to ask Brandon what his favorite part was an he said "I liked the shark, um, turtle, um, the startfish, octupus and the lion fish." Apparently Brandon really enjoy the tour. I promise we took more pictures of the cool things we saw but most did not turn out.

We all had a good time at the Shark Reef. We were enjoying our family time so much that we decided to keep our adventure going. So we went to the M & M store on Las Vegas Blvd to watch the 3D movie only to be told it was not showing then. So we headed to the Coca-Cola store for fun just to check it out. Then we decided to take a tiny road trip to go check out the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. That was pretty neat. We will have to take another trip to Hoover Dam though to go to the Visitors Center. We didn't take any pictures of this because I didn't think of it and we were mostly just driving by everything because it was so hot outside.

Emma's turns 11

2010-09-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

Emma turned 11 on August 4th. We had a nice quiet family party a few days before her birthday because Matt would be out of town on her actual birthday. She and I tried to make a cake that looked like a giant lipstick. We ran out of frosting so we had to make due. I still think it turned out okay. Emma opened a few gifts from her family and then other cards trickled in throughout the week from family members too far away to celebrate.

On her actual birthday we invited some friends and went $1 bowling. We always have fun when we go bowling but it is always more fun with friends. This time was no exception.

It is hard to believe my little girl is 11 years old and in 6th grade, which is middle school here in Las Vegas. Emma has always been a good girl. She was a happy, obedient child. I never had to put baby locks on anything. I would just tell her "no, no" and she would never get into again. She is still like that today. Happy and obedient. She has a kind heart and is always willing to help even without being asked. She is great with her little brothers. She has turned into a great babysitter. She is already being asked to babysit for people in our ward. I think that speaks volumes about Emma's character. Emma is a true blessing in our family. I can't wait to see what the future holds for this special young lady.

Introducing the talented....Emma and Jake

2010-08-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

Emma and Jake performed in the Pioneer Day celebration here in Las Vegas. They both volunteered to be in the talent show. There was no coersion from me. Really. :)

This is Emma singing "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus.

Jake played a "Star Wars" medley on the piano.

Jake earns his Wolf Badge

2010-07-31T14:16:00.001-07:00

Jake has been in cubscouts for 9 months now. In that 9 months he was wrestling for 4 of the 9 months. Since he was busy wrestling he was unable to attend his Wednesday night cubscout meetings. (In the meetings the cubscouts work on goals and pass of requirements towards their wolf badge.) So in an effort to catch up with what he missed, Jake has been working extra hard to pass off all his requirements to get his Wolf badge. Not only did he pass of his Wolf badge but he also passed of 50+ elective achievements to earn one gold arrow point and 4 silver arrow points.

Here is Jake receiving his award from the Cubscout Master.

This is Jake very carefully putting my wolf badge pin on.

This is me being very proud of my son, and Jake being very proud of himself.

Way to go Jake!!!!

A weekend in Brian Head, Utah

2010-07-31T12:43:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago some friends of ours, the Purcells, invited us to their cabin in Brian head, Utah. The weather here in Las Vegas was 113 that weekend but in Brian Head it was only 75. It was wonderful. The area where their cabin is located is beautiful. The adults went for a ride to get a great view of Cedar Breaks, and a great view it was.

Matt and I rode in the Rhino. Josh and Rachel rode their motocycles. I have to say, I am very jealous of Rachel's motorcycle riding skills. Later Matt took the kids on a ride in the Rhino.

On Sunday we went to church at the town hall in Brian Head. Later that afternoon we went on a hike. I can't remember the name of the place but it was really fun and pretty. We took tons of pictures while on the hike. Here are just a few of the pictures.

We also drove to Brian Head peak and got a fantastic view. We could see Utah, Arizona and Nevada. It was amazing. This is us on top of Brian Head Peak. The weekend was so fun. We had great friends to hang out with, great food to eat, wonderful weather, and beautiful scenary.

Childrens Museum with Friends

2010-07-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

We headed out to the Childrens Museum again, but with some friends this time. The new attraction there is different kinds of mazes. This one I thought was cool. You had to attach yourself to these ropes and then follow the rope all around the circle until you got to the end.

I think Jake enjoyed this maze much more than Emma did as you can see from the photos.

Of course we had to try out the hurricane simulator. This has got to be one of my favorite pictures. I love the faces of all the kids in this one.

Brandon was having fun acting and dancing on the stage there. He is a cowboy riding his horse.

There is a green screen there too. The kids were "playing" soccer and pretending to be the goalie.

Brandon and his friend Tyson playing with one of the experiments.

As usual the kids had a great time.

Earrings and Haircuts

2010-07-06T17:42:00.001-07:00

A lot of things are happening in Emma's life and it is totally freaking me out. Emma is turning into a young lady right before my eyes and I am having a hard time letting go of my little girl. She will be going to middle school this year and so we thought this summer would be a good time to get her ears pierced.

Here she is in the chair icing her earlobe. If you think she looks a little nervous, you are right.

After the first ear was pierced, icing the next ear.The finished product and a happy customer thanks to my friend Jen.

The boys have also been having some fun. We watched a UFC fight a couple of weeks ago and the boys wanted a mohawk like one of the fighters so...

After the haircuts it was time to fight. Play fight that is and in slow motion. No one was injured in case you were wondering.

By the way, the boys were only allowed to wear the mohawk for a week and then they had to shave it off for church. They didn't care they just thought it was cool to have a mohawk.

Brandon at 4 years old

2010-06-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

Brandon has been doing some really funny, silly, annoying, weird, crazy things lately. So I decided it was time to write it all down.

Recently he made a mean face and mean noise at Jake and I said "Hey that is not a nice thing to do to someone" to which Brandon said "Jesus made my whole body and I can do whatever I want with it." Nice one.

He has also been requesting lately that his dad not go to work anymore. He misses his daddy while he is gone. Maybe it has something to do with his dad leaving for work and not coming home for 3 days. :(

He likes to call his dad his "buddy" and call me his "pal". He has also starting calling me "pretty" instead of "mom". I hear him in the house looking for me and yelling "pretty!!, pretty!!". I have to say I do enjoy it!!

Brandon likes to give me big hugs and kisses. Recently he has been giving big kisses. What I mean by that is he kisses me on the lips for a loooong time. I had to tell him that he can give a big long kiss on the cheek but not on my lips. So he said "Then when I marry you I will give you a big long kiss!" Matt said "But mom is already married to me." Brandon said "You can get a new wife when you marry Emma." Wow. I don't know where he gets all this crazy thinking but it's funny to listen to.

He loves the movie "Sharkboy and Lavagirl". He keeps singing the song that Sharkboy sings that goes like this "Close your eyes, shut your mouth, dream a dream, get us out." The song is rather annoying but it is cute to hear him sing it in his little 4 year voice.

Brandon likes to read books and can often be found with a book in his lap "reading". Trying to read to him takes forever because he likes to comment about every page and ask questions. Usually it is the same questions over and over again. I do love storytime with him though so I don't really care. He also likes to read me Dr. Seuss's "Footbook". He is pretty good at remembering all the words.

We have been doing a lot of swimming this summer thanks to some great friends we have. Brandon has finally gotten brave and is now swimming with just floaties on all by himself. He loves to swim now. YEAH!!!

Emma and Jake have been taking piano lessons, so of course they have to practice the piano. Brandon also thinks he needs to practice. He will sit down at the piano and start hitting the keys and sing either "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or "Popcorn Popping". If you do not clap when he is done he will start over, and over and over. Hopefully one day he will really be able to play those songs.

I swear that there is some switch on my kids that at the age of 4 they are finally enjoyable to be around again. Brandon is so funny and cute and hilarious to have a conversation with. I am so blessed to have this sweet boy in my life.

Jake's Pine Wood Derby 2010

2010-06-13T18:11:00.000-07:00

Now that Jake is in Cubscouts he was able to participate in the Pine Wood Derby. His kit came with a block of wood, 4 tires and 2 axels. Jake designed his car and traced it on the wood. The only thing Matt did was cut the wood out and supervise with the rest. Here is Jake sanding his car to perfection. Later he spray painted it and did a great job.
Jake was able to have his car race in the ward Pine Wood Derby but Matt had to do it for him because Jake got strep throat that day and couldn't go. His car did "Ok" but Matt knew it could do better. Lucky for Jake he got a second chance to watch his car race at the Stake Pine Wood Derby.

This was the big weigh in for the Stake Pine Wood Derby. They had a great scale and Matt and Jake kept adding weights to it until they reached the 5 oz. limit.

All Jake's hard work paid off. He got 2nd place in our ward. He was pretty excited about it too.

The proud father and son.

This being our first Pine Wood Derby experience...it was pretty fun. I really had nothing to do with the car building but it was fun to watch Matt and Jake work together. The races were really fun to watch too.
I never did get a really good picture of the car, but trust me it was cool.

Brandon's 4th Birthday

2010-06-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

Brandon's 4th birthday was May 30th. We celebrated his birthday the week before with a "Spiderman" party. Brandon had wanted a "Superhero" party but we couldn't find what he was looking for so he settled on "Spiderman". He only invited 7 little friends. We planned on playing a few games and eating pizza, and of course cake and ice cream.

Here is Brandon with a few of his friends enjoying their pizza.

This is one of the games we made. Basically a bean bag toss but, Emma drew pictures of spiderman's enemies for the kids to attack or kill or whatever they wanted to call it. Emma drew, the Green Goblin, Sandman, and Venom(the bad spiderman).

We also played "pin the spiderman on the city scene" compliments of Emma again. It was pretty cool with more enemies placed throughout the city for the kids to place a spiderman on to "get" the bad guy.

This is the best I could do for a cake but Brandon liked it and that is all that counts. He did however insist that I add a smiley face to it. (It is not in this picture)

The highlight of the party was when Spiderman made a surpirse visit. He brought mini frisbees for all the boys and played some games with all the boys.

Each of the boys got their picture taken with Spiderman. They all thought it was pretty cool.
Spiderman was my awesome dad who actually surprised us by driving down from Utah, buying a costume and coming to the party. (He did the same thing for Jake's 4th birthday but dressed up as Batman)

Brandon was really funny when Spiderman came. I am sure he recognized his Grandpa's voice. He just stood there for a minute and I asked him what was wrong and he said "Spiderman is suppose to be skinny." (Sorry buddy this Spiderman is almost 68 years old.)

This is of course Brandon blowing out his candles. I don't know why but pictures of my kids blowing out the candles on their cakes are some of my favorite photos.Last but not least was the opening of all the gifts. As you can see Brandon enjoyed this part of the party.Brandon's birthday was a fun day and very easy to plan. I make my kids wait until they are 4 years old to have their first "friends" party. I would have to say it was a success. I think Brandon would agree.

Emma school choir concert

2010-05-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am sure some of you are confused because you know that Emma has been homeschooled this year and you are wondering how she could be in the school choir. Well the school she was attending is really nice and the choir teacher is really cool and let her continue with the choir even though she was no longer enrolled at the school.

So she has been practicing every Tuesday and working really hard. The choir she is in not only sings but plays instruments too. It was a neat, fun, interesting, very short performance (only 15 minutes). The choir sang at the schools multicultural night so they sang songs from other countries in other languages. I had no idea what they were saying but the songs were pretty.

Here are just a few pictures from the performance. I was not sitting in the ideal spot and I need a bigger zoom lense on my camera so the pictures are not that good. Good luck finding Emma in them!!

Here she is front and center. That one was easy.

This is Emma and Allie announcing a song together.

Back row second from the right.

She is not looking at the camera. She is in the middle talking with her teacher.

This is Emma and her friend Allie, the choir teacher and her assistant.

She has really enjoyed being in the school choir here in Las Vegas and in California. She has been in a school choir since she was in 2nd grade. She is planning on being in the school choir when she goes to middle school next year too. We look forward to more great concerts!!!

Mothers Day

2010-05-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

I did not take one picture on Mother's Day. So this is a word only post.

I had a very nice Mother's Day. I got all my gifts early this year because I bought them for myself and wanted to use them before Mother's Day. So I did not get any gifts yesterday except for a few special ones from the kids.

The day started out with a great breakfast made by Matt and the kids. Then we went to church and I spoke in sacrament meeting and taught Relief Society.

Then I sat myself down on the couch and didn't move for quite sometime. I told Matt what I I wanted for Mother's day was to not have to make food for anyone all day. So after church we pretty much just ate my Great Harvest loaf of bread I got from the ward for Mother's day.

I sat and watched movies and TV and snuggled with Matt on the couch while the kids played upstairs. It was great.
Brandon wanted to make me a crown, so Emma helped him make one out of tinfoil and pipe cleaners. It was awesome and I wore it all afternoon.
Jake's favorite thing is candy so his gift was sharing his miniature snickers he got from church with me and also letting me have one of his dum dum suckers. That is a big deal to a kid who loves candy and hides it in his room.
Emma and Matt made chicken alfredo for dinner and it was yummy. Then Matt and Jake made some chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
It was a great relaxing day and the kids didn't even fight. Yeah for Mother's Day 2010.

Let the fun begin...

2010-04-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago a nice neighbor and friend called and asked if we would like to have their trampoline. What? The kids have been wanting a trampoline for a long time. We have the perfect spot for it too. So of course, we said "YES!".

The first week we had the trampoline the kids jumped on it for hours a day and by bedtime everyone was exhausted. It was great.

Then the weather warmed up so we attached a sprinkler to the tramp and the kids jumped in their swimsuits.

Here are a few highlights of all the fun the kids have been having on the trampoline.

This is Jake attempting his front flip.

I am not sure what Emma is doing here but I am sure she is having fun!

Brandon was very impressed with how high he could jump. Just look at the concentration on his face. Love it!!

YEAH FOR TRAMPOLINES!!!

Just for fun...I added this photo of a drawing Brandon made of the Easter Bunny and a carrot. I especially love the ears on the Easter Bunny. :)

Bountiful Baskets

2010-04-21T17:54:00.001-07:00

My dad told me about this great website were you can get a laundry basket full of fresh fruits and vegetables for $15 ($25 for organic).

Bountiful Baskets are available in Utah, Nevada and Arizona. In North Las Vegas the baskets are available every other week. You recieve what ever is available and in season.

In my first basket I recieved the following:

11 snack sized apples

8 0z. mushrooms

1 pint grape tomatoes

6 oz. blackberries

1 bag of large carrotts

1 cantelope

1 pineapple

1 small bunch of broccoli

10 bananas

1 bunch swiss chard

1 bunch romaine lettuce

17 red potatos

I was pleasently surpised at all the food I recieved for only $15. You can order whenever or want, there is no commitment. The pick up place is at the Mountain Crest park of Durango and Lone Mountain. If you are interested go to bountifulbaskets.org.

Easter 2010

2010-04-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

We spent the Easter weekend in Richfield, Utah at Matt's parents house. First thing on the agenda was egg decorating. This year the kids cousin Radisyn got to join them in the fun.Next was the egg hunt. Matt's mom hid 90 eggs for all the kids and adults to find. Each person had a certain color of egg to find. Apparently this is a family tradition from Matt's mom's side of the family. How I did not know about this for the past 12 years is odd. I can't remember the last time I hunted Easter eggs. Everyone had fun of course. Brandon showing off the first egg he found.
The kids with all their eggs. Most of them were filled with candy but one was filled with $5. Boy do we love Grandma Sue's egg hunt. The Easter baskets.

Brandon showing off his chocolate bunny that the kids get every year for Easter.

Brandon playing his new "fishing"game with Grandpa Bruce.
After all the fun of the egg hunt on Saturday and checking out what the Easter Bunny brought on Sunday morning we were able to sit down and watch general conference. After that we had a nice lunch that Matt's mom prepared. Sadly we ended up having to leave shortly after lunch to get home.

If I had one complaint it would be the weather. It was Spring Break for crying out loud and it snowed while we were there. As always it was fun to visit with family.

The fruits of our labors

2010-03-30T16:15:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we decided to take out some bushes in our backyard and replace them with fruit bushes. We bought 2 raspberry bushes and 1 grapevine. The kids were all very excited about planting fruit until they found out how long they would have to wait to actually see any fruit grow. :)

This is the before picture. (look to the left by the wall)

Everyone helped with the planting process.

The after pictures. Can you even tell the difference from the before picture?

We look forward to our fruit harvest. Whenever that may be!!

Jake, Jake the wrestling man!

2010-03-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Jake's wrestling season is over. (sigh) It was a long 4 months of 2 practices a week and a tournament every Saturday. Matt was helping coach the team and I think Jake and Matt both enjoyed that. The end of the year party was last Saturday. We were not able to go because we were out of town. So yesterdayMatt and Jake picked up what he would have received at the party. Which was individual pictures and a team picture all on a really nice plaque. Jake also received an awesome trophy. He was never able to place this year at any of the tournaments so I think that the trophy he received was pretty special to him.

You can't tell how happy he is about his trophy and plaque because according Matt "wrestlers don't smile. "

I got him to smile for me though.I am very proud of Jake and all the hard work he did this wrestling season. Jake worked out and conditioned harder than most adults could do and he never complained. Even though most of his Saturdays for 4 months were busy with tournaments and early mornings he didn't complain and always did his best. My little 8 year old son is really growing up. Before I know it he will be a man. sniff sniff.

Lied Discovery Children's Museum

2010-03-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago the kids and I went to the Lied Discovery Children's Museum. We had never been there and a good time was had by all. The first floor has a lot of hands on things to do for little kids. There were dress up area's, an airport check in with a luggage cart and also a mini airplane. There was a grocery store, bank and car repair shop to play in. As you can see below there was also a construction zone area.

Here is Brandon flying the airplane with Emma and Jake as his passengers.

There was also this great bubble making section. We spent quite a bit of time there. It was fun.

Here is Jake showing off his giant bubble he made.

Here I am attempting to put Brandon and I in a huge bubble.

Emma was doing very well at making giant bubbles as you can see.

This bubble maker made a wall of bubbles that Brandon loved to put his hands through. I love the face he kept making everytime he stuck his hands through the bubble wall.

This huge contraption would suck balls up a tube and then the ball would roll across the top and depending which lever you pulled it could pass through 3 different areas before finally reaching the ground again. You could really stand there for hours trying all the different levers. Brandon really liked this section.

This has got to be my favorite picture of the day. The museum has a hurricane simulator that got the wind blowing in this little tube up to 78 mph. I was able to snap a picture of Emma in the wind tunnel. LOVE IT!!

We didn't even get to try everything before Brandon got to tired and needed to go home. They even had a really cool show about liquid nitrogen. It was fascinating to people like me who know very little about science.

We had such a great time we got a year pass so we could check it all out again. The best part is it is only 15 minutes from our house. I am sure we will be going back again soon. Anybody want to go?

Message For Moms- lilianderson.com

2010-03-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

To all you mom's out there. Here is a quick pick me up. Motherhood is difficult at times and yet so rewarding at other times. This little message will remind of your divine role as a mother. Enjoy.

Message For Moms- lilianderson.com

Brandon is his name and talking is game...

2010-02-25T20:16:00.000-08:00

Brandon has been saying some pretty funny things lately. There are still unfortunately times that he has a great story to tell and I can only understand half of it. Thank goodness for speech therapy so I can understand that much.

Here is just a sampling of why he makes us laugh so often.

Let's start with....
This kid knows he is funny and knows how to keep the laughs coming.

The other day he was getting frustrated with a toy that was not working and said "Why isn't this working? It is getting me insane!!"

When he was watching Dora today he asked me very annoyed like "Why do they keep telling me to do things all the time?" "I don't want to do anything.!"

His latest name he likes to call people is "eyeball." Why you say? I have no idea.

He has been trying very hard to learn the ABC's song. He can name almost every letter in the alphabet and write about 1/2 of the alphabet but for some reason he cannot get the song down. Here is what we end up hearing..."A,B,C,D,Q,S,T,W,X,Y and Z. Now I know my ABC's next time sing with me." Just for your information do not try to correct him or he will get very upset and stop singing altogether.

Yesterday I was in bed rolled over under the covers and he couldn't see me. He called my name and I rolled over to talk to him.
Brandon says : "Why are you not downstairs?"
I say: "Because I haven't gotten out of bed yet."
Brandon says "But why aren't you downstairs?"
I say: "Because I just woke up."
Brandon says as he stomps out of the room: "You just don't get it!"

I still don't get it.

Brandon is darling, handsome, funny, annoying at times, impatient, pouty, whiny, cute, sweet, and lovable. I don't know what my life would be without him.

Trip to Las Vegas Blvd.

2010-02-23T16:10:00.000-08:00

The kids had a field trip to the Bodies Exhibit at the Luxor hotel a few weeks ago. The exhibit was amazing but honestly a bit creepy and weird at the same time. At first Jake was a little scared to go in when he heard it was "real" bodies that were used. After he finally went in, he and Emma thought it was neat. Brandon didn't really understand much and I even caught him covering his eyes a few times because he was scared. After the field trip we decided to look around the Luxor and check things out. We took a few pictures in front of some of the cool statues etc. in the Luxor.

We also walked over to the Excalibur and went down to the basement to play a few games and got totally ripped off. The cost to play the games vs. the possible prize you win is such a rip off. The kids had fun though so I guess that is what counts.

Of course we had to get a picture in front of SpongeBob.

That was our little mini-adventure to Las Vegas Blvd. Not too exciting but better than nothing. Maybe one day we will go again and check out some other places.

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Dinner

2010-02-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

Jake joined the cub scouts when he turned 8 last year. He has not been able to attend any activites or any pack meetings because he has been busy with wrestling. However, he has been working on his Bobcat badge all this time. Jake was finally able to attend his first pack meeting because it was held on a Friday night. The pack meeting was the annual Blue and Gold dinner. The theme was "Happy Birthday". Each cubscout had to make a cake and decorate it to go along with the theme. Jake came up with his own design and I helped a little (I promise) in putting it together. We used 3 cakes mixes and 5 containers of frosting.

Here are a few pictures of the cake making process from start to finish.

Making the cake...

The cake before being frosted...Now the cake frosted....Finally the finished product....

The cake was suppose to look like all the cubscout badges a cubscout could get and also celebrate the Boyscouts 100th birthday. I think it turned out great. It was one of the biggest cakes there. Jake got the "biggest badges cake" award. After dinner the cubscouts and their families played a few carnival games and broke a pinata.

The hightlight of the evening was when Jake received his Bobcat badge. I also received a pin that looks like Jake's badge. It was really cool to have my "boy" receive his first of many cubscout/boyscout awards. We are all really proud of him.

This is a picture of Jake carrying the pack flag. It was his first time.

Jake and I showing off his bobcat badge and my new pin.

Way to go Jake!!

Quick trip to Utah. BRRRRR!!!!

2010-02-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

We went to Utah the week of January 21-24th. We first stopped and visited with my dad and step mom. My sister in law and her 3 kids came down one night for a visit. The kids had fun playing in the snow, building snowmen, and going for a ride on the 4 wheeler with Grandpa Milo. We made chocolate snow and had a great time.

This is Brandon running away after he threw a "snowball" at Emma.

Emma and Jake's snowball fight in action.

Jake's miniature Snowman. He later made a Snowwoman but I did not go back out ot take another picture. It was way to cold by then.

These are the cousins. For some reason, Emma is not in the picture.

I did not even think to bring the kids hiking boots. I guess I didn't realize it was going to snow so much. So the next day when were there Grandpa Milo fixed Jake up with some "snowboots" Which was actually Jake's feet in his shoes in Grandpa Milo's boots. It worked great.
This is Grandpa Milo getting Jake already to play in the snow with his new "boots".

Jake and Grandpa Milo getting ready for a ride on the 4 wheeler. Jake was freezing when he got back and he wasn't even gone that long.

This is how you make CHOCOLATE SNOW.

1. Collect newly fallen CLEAN snow.

2. Put some in a bowl.

3. Add chocolate syrup or chocolate powder.

4. Mix well and eat.

5. Enjoy.

Tastes like a fudgesicle. YUMMY!

Obviously Brandon is enjoying his chocolate snow. Another satisfied customer.

The weather was freezing but we still had visiting with everyone. I plan on going back in the spring when all the snow is gone.

Brandon's first day in Primary

2010-02-09T18:11:00.000-08:00

Brandon finally graduated from Nursery and is now in Primary. He was not to excited about the idea. He really loved going to Nursery. Once I convinced him to go to Primary he just sat on the front row and cried. I am in the Primary presidency so he just kept looking at me and crying with his huge tears running down his face. We made a deal that if he ever gets sad he can just wave at me to make himself feel better. This little trick only works if I am in the room or NOT conducting or teaching sharing time. One time when I was teaching sharing time he just kept saying "mom, mom, mom," louder and louder. Last week after I was done teaching I walked by his chair and he said "I kept waving at you but you didn't wave back." So cute. He is really fun to have in primary with me. I can't believe he will be 4 this year.

Isn't he so handsome?

Kellie DeMille had her baby!!!

2010-02-02T16:18:00.000-08:00

I am happy to report Kellie had a baby girl on February 1st at 12:59 pm. The baby weighed 9 lbs 6oz. and was 20 inches long. Her name is HAYDEN GRACE and according to Kellie has the same darling cheeks that Taylor has. Kellie will be home on Wednesday.

BTW...I am blogging this for Kellie until she can get home and do it herself. Apparently Jason has not called anyone else to tell them the good news so we are spreading it this way.

January...

2010-02-01T13:39:00.001-08:00

Ok I am so sick of seeing my Christmas post that I just had to post something else pictures or not. The month of January turned out to be a fairly busy one I guess. Busy enough that I did not have time or find time to download (or is it upload) pictures and write a post or two.
So here is the lowdown on the Summers' family happenings in January.

Emma officially started home school. So now both she and Jake are home with me and we all love it. We are having a great time with all of our adventures, new things we are learning, and our extra free time. I do have to run them to the school 2x a week for G.A.T.E. and a 3rd time for Emma to go to choir. We also went to the Bodies Exhibit for a field trip last week, which was gross but intersting.
Also, Brandon goes to a playgroup 2x a week and speech 2x a week so I feel a bit like a taxi but that is fine with me.

I was also busy planning the Primary quarterly activity. It turned out great and I think everyone had a good time getting to know their teachers and classmates.

Matt had his 35th birthday. We celebrated with his family in Utah.
The next day Jake had a wrestling tournament in Richfield, Ut. We spent most of the day at the tournament and some with Matt's family. The kids and I went up to Utah a few days before the
tournament and spent some time with my dad and step-mom. It snowed while we were there and the kids had fun playing in the snow while I sat inside drinking hot chocolate. We also made chocolate snow and it was awesome. This I took pictures of so I will explain it later.

I had my first mammogram. This I did not take pictures of...you are welcome. It was just a routine exam but a weird experience indeed.

Brandon got strep throat last week but got a shot of penicillin so he got better fast. Thank goodness.

That pretty much sums up what I have been up to in January. I know it may not sound like much but it was enough to keep me busy. Even as I speak my kids are calling for me needing something ASAP. I love my life....really I do.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

The traditional opening of new pajamas on Christmas Eve.

Here are the kids in their new pajamas. Everyone seems happy with what I picked out. Brandon in Buzz Lightyear, Jake in Airforce/airplanes and Emma in pink and cute.

Putting Santa's plate out with homemade cookies, carrotts for the reindeer and chocolate milk.
Brandon was given some reindeer food at his playgroup so he and Matt are putting it on a plate getting the food ready.
Here they are in the backyard putting the reindeer food out.

SANTA DELIVERS!!!

Jake with his favorite gift...LEGOS!!Emma and her favorite gift...Sketch pad and drawing pencils.

Brandon and his favorite...BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!!!Brandon's other Santa gift...Playdough.All the kids were given new pillowcases from Matt's mom. The pillowcases had each of the kids names on it, and if you look closely it also has sewn in glow in the dark thread "Did you think to pray?" I think these are so cool and the kids thought they were pretty neat too. They all slept with them on Christmas Eve.Now for my favorite Christmas gift. Matt and the kids had been working out in the garage for about a week on a homemade gift for me. I was banned from the garage and the office so I would not see the gift in progress. The picture below is the gift wrapped up. I had no idea what it was because they had done a great job at concealing the actual shape of my gift.

This is my gift. My friend Niccole had made this vinyl sign for me intended for me to just put directly on my wall like I had so many other times. However, this vinyl sign would not fit and I was very disappointed. So Matt made a frame and bought some plexiglass and put the vinyl on it for me. I have to say I was not at all surprised at how well it turned out. Matt is a very skilled craftsman. I love the sign and that Matt and the kids took the time and thought to make something that meant a lot to me. It will be soon hanging in my front room. I hope you can read what it says because I love it. After we opened all the gifts, we watched a lot of new movies, played lots of new games, and ate and ate. In the end it was a nice quiet Christmas, just the way we like it.

Jake's Wrestling Tournament

2009-12-15T19:26:00.000-08:00

Here is a view of the gym with all the wrestling mats. There is room for 8 matches to go on at once. It gets pretty loud and crazy in the gym too. I still haven't decided if I like watching Jake wrestling. My maternal instincts kick in and I want to stop my kid from getting beat up. When he cries (which all the wrestlers do) I want to hug him and say "It's okay" and then another part of me wants to say "Suck it up and pin the kid!!".This post is actually about Jake's 2nd wrestling tournament. It was held at Legacy High School here in North Las Vegas. It was actually the same day Jake was baptized. He was done at 2pm ran home and showered and headed over to the stake center. That made for a crazy day.
Matt is one of the assistant coaches. This is what it looks like from my point of view watching Matt and another coach help Jake out on the mat.
Jake is trying to pin this kid....

and he does!!!!

After a wrestler wins a match they are suppose to sign the bout sheet and turn it in. Here is Jake with his winning bout sheet. He looks really excited he won huh?

Jake is actually doing pretty good for his first year. He can hold his own with kids who have wrestled for a year or two. He has gotten pinned a couple of times and plans on making sure that doesn't happen again.

Jake's baptism

2009-12-09T15:36:00.000-08:00

Jake got baptized on December 5th. There we 5 kids from the stake getting baptized and Jake was the only one from our ward that was baptized that night. He was able to pick who he wanted to give the talk on the Holy Ghost, and who said the closing prayer. He also asked Emma to sing a song. It was a great afternoon/night filled with the spirit, lots of emotions and lots of family and friends. These 2 pictures are the only ones we took all night. I was so disappointed I didn't take pictures of all the family and friends who came and all the great food and fun we had at our house after the baptism.

I did want to mention all the Priesthood holders that were in the circle when Jake was confirmed, Jake was very particular about making sure certain people were in the circle.

Matt, Milo Medley, Bruce Summers, Michael Medley, Larry Ferguson, Jason Dean, Bishop Blackham, Mike Matthes, Monty Warr, Jason DeMille, and Richard Drew.

Road trip back to Las Vegas

2009-12-08T19:26:00.002-08:00

On our way home we stopped to visit with Santa. This is Brandon's first year to really understand who Santa is... he sat on Santa's lap and told him he wanted a "Buzz Lightyear"and playdough. This particular Santa gave all the kids a small brown bag filled with peanuts and candy. When we were walking back to the car Brandon pointed to his brown bag and said "Is my Buzz in here?" So sweet and cute. He was not very happy that his Buzz was not in the bag.

We decided to take the scenic route home so we drove through Duck Creek and ended up in Cedar City. We have been to Duck Creek before and it is beautiful we just have never been there in a snow storm. We decided to stop and have lunch at a little cafe. The kids were able to decorate an ornament and hang it on the tree you see behind us.

While we were eating it continued to snow. By the time we were done there was a good amount of snow on the ground for Brandon to experience snow for the first time. We told him to touch the snow and see what it felt like. He touched it and then said "I want to go back to Las Vegas." Emma and Jake seemed to enjoy it though.

This is Brandon NOT enjoying the snow.

Here are just a few pictures of the beautiful snow covered mountains we drove through on our way home.

We kept wondering how many more miles until we would reach Cedar City. As you can see we never did find out since the sign was covered in snow. We also passed 2 snowplows. Makes you wonder if maybe we shouldn't have been on that road at the time...

It was a fun ride home. Well, at least for the kids and I. Matt might have a different opinion since he was the one driving in the snow.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving to be with Matt's family. Here is Emma and her cute cousins Radisyn and Kinley. This was our awesome feast that we all helped to make. Matt's sister Randi did all the decorations and it looked fantastic.

One of our Thanksgiving activities was going "shooting". Matt brought all of our guns up to Utah and we took Emma and Jake to go shoot them.

As you can see they were having a good time.

Matt enjoying himself.

Jake checking to see if my shot hit the bullseye or not. Probably NOT!!Everyone had a good time and wasted lots of ammunition.

More to come about our trip home.

A Thanksgiving Poem

2009-11-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

I had to do sharing time yesteday. I decided to do the lesson on gratitude/thankfulness and compare our lives today with the lives of the pioneers. I think it turned out pretty well.

Here is the poem I read and gave to all the kids that summed up the point I was trying to get across.

I Think of Pioneers

Sometimes when I must walk to school, it seems a long, long way. I get to feeling tired and would like to stop and play. But then I think of pioneers who walked by sun and star; And suddenly my little walk doesn’t seem so far.

Sometimes on cold, dark winter nights I crawl beneath the sheet and wish I had a cozy place to warm my chilly feet. But then I think of pioneers who camped outside all night and only had a fire’s glow to give them warmth and light.

Sometimes when I am hungry and want something good to eat, my mother gives me carrots when I’d rather have a sweet. But then I think of pioneers who thanked God and were glad for anything at all to eat—my carrots aren’t so bad.

Sometimes when I have chores to do and I would rather play, I think of pioneers and know they worked most all the day. And so I guess I can’t complain about things that I must do, for when I think of pioneers, I’m very blessed—aren’t you?

By, Sandy Halvorson

Happy Thanksgiving.

36 facts for 36 years.

2009-11-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

1. November 7th is my birthday
2. I had braces when I was teenager even though you can't tell now.
3. I went to Europe for 3 weeks with my high school choir.
4. I have 3 brothers, a half brother, 4 step-brothers and 1 step sister.
5. I rolled a brand new car 3 times.
6. I found out I was pregnant with Emma lying on a gurney in an E.R.
7. I went on a mission to Tacoma, Washington.
8. I went to Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.
9. I hate birds.
10. Everyone in my immediate family has a name that starts with "M".
11. When I was 3-11 years old my family owned a grocery store in rural Utah.
12. I was "Little Miss Market" in a 24th of July parade.
13. I don't eat melon of any sort.
14. I make lists constantly.
15. I have a terrible time with computers.
16. I met Matt in May of 1997, we were engaged on July 4, 1997 and married Sept. 27, 1997.
17. I have never been to Canada or Mexico.
18. My great-great grandfather is a full blood Indian.
19. I ditched school a lot in high school.
20. I have driven a semi-truck before.
21. My first job was working in a "Click photo booth" in the middle of a parking lot.
22. I have never colored my hair, ever.
23. I like watching Motocross racing.
24. My favorite movie is "The Man from Snowy River".
25. My favorite sports are softball and volleyball.
26. I didn't discover I had a half brother until I was 25.
27. I have been on a church history tour back east 2 times.
28. I have Thorasic Outlet Syndrome.
29. I love wild flowers.
30. In high school I would go to bed at 9pm.
31. I was 16 and on my first date when I kissed a boy for the first time.
32. My favorite animal is the platypus.
33. One day I hope to go to Australia to see a platypus.
34. Quakie Aspens are my favorite tree.
35. I talk to myself a lot.
36. I wanted to grow up and be a History teacher.

There you have it. 36 somewhat weird, interesting facts about me.

A day in the life...

2009-11-06T02:47:00.000-08:00

I have a friend who documents her day once a month with pictures and commentary. I thought I would try it but minus all the pictures.

7:30am The day started out with getting the kids up for school. Making them breakfast which consisted of instant oatmeal and a glass of juice. I made their lunch and put a joke in it like I do everyday.
Once the kids were gone it was time to tackle some house cleaning. I started in the kitchen. Dishes, sweeping and mopping the floors. Then a bit of dusting and vacuuming. Bathrooms were on the list but I was running out of time before I needed to shower and get ready to take Brandon to speech class.

11am: I take Brandon to his speech class at Emma and Jake's school. While he is in his speech class I volunteer in Emma's classroom.

11:45am: Brandon comes out of speech class and his teacher tells me we need to talk...that is never good news. She tells me Brandon is having behavior issues in class. What? I wont go into the details but it was mostly him being stubborn, no hitting or anything like that. She tells me to talk to all of Brandon's other teachers, ie. Nursery and playgroup and she will talk to his other speech teacher and see how he behaves in her class.

12pm: I take the long way home which means it took me 5 minutes instead of 2 minutes and Brandon falls asleep. Could he have just been tired in speech? Possibly.
While Brandon sleeps I enjoy a quiet lunch. After that I make a batch of cookies for a friend's party Friday night, do a little stitching while they bake and watch CSI:NY recorded from last night.

1:30pm: Brandon wakes up and I make him some lunch. I talk on the phone to 2 different people, one of them being Brandon's nursery teacher.

2:30pm Continue with cleaning the house until the kids get home.

3:45pm: Talk to the kids a little about their day and have them get started on their homework.

4:30pm: I make an early dinner because Jake has a soccer game and we need to leave at 5:30pm.

5pm:Eat dinner with the kids and discover while talking to the kids that Emma won the school election and is now the Student Body Vice-President. I also learn that someone in her class stole her entire lunch. They left the lunch bag but took everything in her bag but her joke I put in there. Nice. The school ended up giving her a free lunch. I thought that was nice.

5:30pm: Leave for soccer fields.

6pm: Watch Jake make 3 out of the 4 goals for his team. Way to go Jake!!

7pm:Drive home and stop at Carl's Jr. for 2 large fries for the kids and I to share when we get home. Call Matt on the way home to tell him Jake made 3 goals. As we are driving home, Emma asks "Mom, what time is it?". I say "It is 7:18". Brandon says "No it isn't mommy, it is 7, 8, 9." I hope that sounds as funny in writing as it did in person. It was funny to us.

7:30pm Eat our yummy fries and then send the kids to the showers while I clean the kitchen again.

8pm: Sit down and watch a 1/2 TV show with the kids and by the time it is over Matt walks in the door. He has been gone for 2 days and we are all glad to see him.

8:30pm: Emma and Jake go to bed while Matt and Brandon play trains for 1/2 an hour. Read Brandon his books from the library that were suppose to be turned in Thursday. OOPS!

9pm:Brandon goes to bed and I get ready for bed. Matt and I watch a 1/2 hour show and talk for a few minutes. He goes downstairs to eat dinner and I read 2 chapters in a book called"So you want to raise a boy". The chapters covering 3 and 4 year olds, seeing if I can figure out what is going on with Brandon.

10pm. Lights out and I am asleep.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

To start our Halloween festivities Brandon and I went to a pumpkin patch with some friends. We went to this same pumpkin patch last year and had a great time. However, this year he did not want to go on any of the fun stuff he just wanted his pumpkin. He played in the dirt and straw on the ground most of the time. Here he is posing with the pumpkins.This is the one ride he would go on. He rode it several times and despite the look on his face he really liked it. The kids did the usual school parties. I am learning that the older the kids get the less involved parents are in the classroom parties. Which actually makes me kind of sad.
Emma worked at the spook alley at the school's "Safe Street" on Thursday. The rest of us came to check it out after Jake's soceer game.
Halloween night the ward had "trunk or treat" that we went to and actually decorated our trunk for the first time ever. I know sad huh?
Here are the kids in their costumes this year. I have to say the best part of their costumes is how cheap they were to put together this year.
Brandon is a PIRATE. His costume was lent to us by a friend (Thank you Rachael Randall you are awesome!!) and I bought all his accesories for $2.
Emma is BELLATRIX LESTRANGE from Harry Potter. Her costume is a combination of 2 of her old costumes. The only thing I bought was the poster board for her sign and some black nail polish and black lipstick.
Jake is SNAKE EYES from G.I. Joe. His black jumpsuit was recycled from last year and we already had his sword. So his costume was FREE.
The best part is that everyone loved their costumes.

Here they are with all their candy. Thank goodness they didn't get as much as last year.

Words of Wisdom

2009-10-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some words of wisdom I was recently given by my dear Aunt Linda. I have been working on my Young Women's Personal Progress to receive my medallion. ( I never got it as a teenager.) One of the goals said "Ask a mother that you admire what she thinks are important attributes for being a mother. I quickly thought of my Aunt Linda. She is an amazing mother and has raised 5 wonderful, talented, strong children. The last of her children just returned home from his mission. Aunt Linda is a seasoned mother, she really knows what she is talking about. She has always been so sweet and kind to my family and has really filled a void in my life since my mom passed away. I always enjoy talking with her and love to hear her opinions on life etc. So here is her thoughts on the important attributes for being a good mother. Enjoy.

Of course, my opinion might differ from the rest of the world, since I believe the gospel is at the heart of developing anything good.
1.LIVE THE GOSPEL First and foremost, try to live the gospel consistently and try to teach your children to do the same, preferably by example. That should include daily prayer and scripture study, FHE, church attendance, temple attendance, etc. As you do this, you will come to be aware of your own weaknesses...that leads to understanding both your own problems and the possibility that your children (and husband) have problems, too. That leads to compassion and understanding.

2. LOVE YOUR CHILDREN That's not really hard to do, but sometimes it is. When those "special" moments occur, don't kill your kids! Carefully pick and choose what you are willing to fall on your sword about--most things aren't really that serious. If you're keeping a gospel-centered home, you can address a lot of issues prior to them ever happening in your family during family scripture study or FHE. Take advantage of teaching moments to have a good talk with your kids, both individually and as a group. Be there! When your kids are performing, speaking, involved in sports, etc. Be there! Also, make sure you express love for and continually touch and hug your kids--I always tried to especially do this during church (put my arm around each one--rub their backs--etc.), so that they would relate going to church with a loving family and always have a warm feeling about it. Of course, (again, you already do this) HAVE FUN WITH THEM! Do cute service things together (doorbell ditch and leave treats, food, etc. for others)--they'll always remember.

3.LOVE THEIR DAD This one can be tough, sometimes. Dads don't get as much practice as mothers in dealing with children, so they can sometimes blow it. Teach by example. They can learn. Quietly take them aside when they blow it and gently explain how they might otherwise have handled the situation. Don't correct them in front of the kids unless it is devistatingly out of control (then in private, ask your husband what the HECK is going on!!!). Make sure they attend as many of the kids' functions with you as humanly possible. When the kids come to you complaining about Dad, gently explain to them that Dad is doing the best he can and that he loves them. Try not to take the kids' sides, but show understanding. Go to the temple with hubby frequently.

4.PUSH YOUR KIDS TO EXCELLENCE Yes...I said PUSH. Demand excellence from them by enthusiasm and by creating a family expectation for excellence. Encourage, encourage, encourage, praise, praise, praise. Help them to see what they can do and help them to do it (without taking over completely). Recognize the differences and unique abilities in each child and push for them to hit their best level of accomplishment. Celebrate achievement as a family. Make a big deal out of their grades and don't fail to explain how good grades ensure a good future.

5.FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF AND WHAT YOU ARE DOING OK--here's a tricky but important one. YOU have to acknowledge to yourself that you're doing a good job. Teach your kids to express gratitude to you (and their dad, but especially you!) for what you are doing so that you also receive positive feedback from them as they grow up. This pays off in a big way, since you will spend several years primarily with the kids and you may at times feel unappreciated--those kids will fill the need you have for acknowledgement if you've done a good job of teaching them gratitude. Look at your own accomplishments and acknowledge your development. Develop your own talents so that the kids see that you, too, are always pursuing something. Visualize yourself as a competent, compassionate and calm woman and mother. Practice seeing yourself reacting to situations in the way that you want to be able to handle them. Working it out in your head will translate into being able to do it in reality when the time comes.

Thanks Aunt Linda for your words of wisdom.

Jake's Soccer Game Highlights

2009-10-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Jake has been playing in the Stake Soccer League. He is pretty good if I do say so myself. Judge for yourself as you watch the video clip.

Jake's Birthday Party!

2009-10-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

For Jake's birthday party he invited two of his friends to sleep over and then Matt took them to Logandale to go riding in the Rhino.
This is Jake and his 2 best buddies. They came over Friday night and ate pizza, a lot of pizza. Later they had rootbeer floats and homemade doughtnuts per Jake's request. They stayed in Jake's room most of the night hanging out and playing with the new toys the boys gave him for his birthday. It made for a quiet evening.

As I mentioned Jake wanted homemade doughnuts instead of cake. So I made them for him and then I had to figure out how to put 8 candles into a pile of doughnuts. Here is how it turned out.

I missed taking a picture when he blew out his candles so I ask Jake to recreate the moment for me. I think he made it quite believable. What do you think?

Saturday morning the boys were up by 6:45am. So we got up and made them breakfast, packed their lunch and snacks and got things packed up in the truck.

They actually saw a tortosie walking in the sand when they were out riding. The boys thought that was pretty cool. There was also a lot of rock throwing and rolling down sandy hills. You know the usual boy stuff.
This is the boys ready to get going standing in front of the Rhino.

They got home around 4pm. After dropping of his friends Jake and Matt quickly got cleaned up and headed out to buy Jake his new bike. He has been saving up for quite some time to pay for half of his bike. As soon as they got home he and Matt made a few adjustments to the bike and Jake rode it until alomost 9pm when we told him he had to come in the house.

Here he is with his new sweet ride.

I asked Jake "How was your birthday?" His response was "I loved it. It was awesome. It was the best birthday ever!"

I say "Mission accomplished".

Jake turns 8!!

2009-10-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

For Jake's birthday this year I thought I would post some pictures of him in his younger years and some fun memories. (Again none before 2005 when our digital world began.)

This picture was taken at the L.A. Zoo. Jake is standing near the flamingos and judging by his facial expression he does not like the smell. We laugh about this picture all the time.

This is one of my favorites. He was so proud of himself learning to write his name and sound words out. It says "I LF U MOM" That means "I love you mom". In case you couldn't figure it out.

A handsome little man on Easter.

This picture is from his 4th birthday party. As you can see it is a Batman party. Jake wanted to send his Grandpa's invitations even though he knew they could not come. My dad lived in Utah 8 hours away and Matt's dad was in Iraq. My dad came anyway without telling us and surprised us. We answered the door and there stood my awesome dad dressed as Batman. The best part was when we asked Jake "Who is that?" (thinking he would say Grandpa) he said "It's Batman!!"

The next picture is of Jake riding his quad with all his riding gear. He loves to ride.
Random picture of his silliness.
Jake and I at his Kindergarten "Mother's Day Tea Party" He had to draw a picture of what I look like and fill out a form about my favorite things.
A picture of him at the beach one summer. He really liked going to the beach even though we didn't go very often.

This is Jake on his 7th birthday loving his new LEGOS. Notice the missing tooth.

My handsome son!!

It is truly hard to believe that Jake is 8 years old. It seems like just a short time ago he was colicky and not sleeping through the night. He has turned into a little man. He is so smart and really enjoys learning new things and hanging out with his dad. He is a good big brother to Brandon and more often than not he and Emma have a lot of fun together.

Lately he has been noticing other kids who need a friend and trying to make them feel special even if no one else does. I love watching him be mindful of others. Jake is always ready to give me a hug and loves to share his day at school with me. He is a great son and we are truly blessed to have him in our family. As we say in our house "Jake makes my heart happy."

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY JAKE!!!

"Helping" Dad with the Rhino

2009-10-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

Last night Matt was in the garage working on the Rhino to get it ready for Jake's birthday on Saturday. Matt is taking Jake and 2 of his friends to Logandale to go riding for the day. The kids wanted to all help. So Matt had them help change the tires.
The impact wrench Matt was using was too loud for Brandon so when he was "helping" he closed his eyes.

Emma using all her muscles to work the jack.
Taking the old tire off.Jake posing with the impact wrench. That is a pretty awesome tool for an almost 8 year old.Jake using the impact wrench all by himself.

I like watching Matt let the kids help him with projects like this. It reminds me of all the times when I was little and I got to help my dad. I have changed the oil in cars, changed spark plugs and changed brake pads to name a few. I hope the kids have fond memories of working along side their dad too.

Emma does it again!!

2009-09-28T19:00:00.001-07:00

Emma recieved the Citizen of the Month award last Friday. This is an award that is voted on by her classmates. Her class decided she was the one deserving of the Citizen of the Month award. I think that is quite a compliment for Emma.

You will notice from this picture of Emma and her teacher that she has a fun teacher this year. We are looking forward to another great year. Way to go Emma!!

Emma "Paula Deen" Summers

2009-09-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

So Emma has been working on one of her goals in the Faith in God book. She had to plan and prepare 5 meals for our family. She did a great job and of course she had a blast doing it. She loves to cook anyway and frequently helps me out in the kitchen. It was an interesting experience for me to give up command of my kitchen so to speak. I don't share my kitchen very well so I had to just let things go that I would normally want to "fix". It was strange having to figure out how to tell a 10 year old how to cut tomatoes or make a white sauce.

Emma made BBQ beef cups, taco salad, mini-pizzas, pork roast and homemade rolls for Sunday dinner, and chicken alfredo. She also made dessert pizzas, and they were yummy. Fortunately for Emma I am a very simple cook so all my recipes are very easy to follow and make. Plus Emma does take direction very well. I do think though now that she has had this experience she will want to be spending more time in MY kitchen now that she is "experienced". I guess I am going to have to get used to sharing my kitchen with my sweet and talented daughter.

Here are a few pictures of the cook in action.

Doesn't she look like a pro? I really did have fun cooking with her and teaching her the little that I know about cooking and baking. Actually I really do have fun doing all kinds of things with Emma. She is a sweetheart and a real joy to have in our family. Not to mention all the great food she makes.

Boys, Tools and Bugs!!!

2009-09-13T19:13:00.001-07:00

On Labor Day weekend, Jake and I drove to Southern California to see his best friend Jarrod Dean get baptized. We left at 6:30am and arrived at 10:oo am. We visited with my dearest friend Niccole, had lunch and then went to the baptism. Jarrod's family had an open house afterwards and a lot of the members from my old ward were there and it was so fun to see so many people. Jake had a blast hanging out with all the BOYS from our old ward. Sunday we got up and went to sacrament mtg and headed back to Las Vegas by 10:45am. It was nice to get home early enough to enjoy the rest of the day with Matt, Emma and Brandon. Although I did have fun just hanging out with Jake for the day.

This is Jake and his best buddy Jarrod Dean.

On Monday, Labor day we were busy cleaning out our office and under the stairs to better utilize all the space.

This is Matt and Jake with the TOOLS working on fixing a hole in the closet under the stairs.

Friday night Matt found a praying mantis outside. So he put it in Emma's ecodome and the kids checked out the BUG for awhile. Well, Emma and Jake checked it out Brandon didn't really want to have anything to do with it.

Here is a picture of the lovely praying mantis. I actually do think they are pretty cool.

Goodbye for now Grandpa Farrell Summers

2009-09-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Matt's sweet Grandfather passed away last Thursday night. We got a phone call about 3am from Matt's dad to tell us the news. So we packed everyone up and drove to Northern Utah, Tremonton to be exact, on Friday. We spent most of our time at Grandma and Grandpa's house talking with Grandma Summers and with other family that stopped by. We helped with getting things ready for the funeral also.

It broke my heart every time I saw Grandma Summers cry. She loved Grandpa Summers so much and already missed him so much it hurt. If I have my numbers correct they were married for over 65 years. What a life they had together. Not to mention all their posterity. They had 6 children, 33 grandchilren and I can't count the great granchildren but there was a lot. At the funeral just the family filled up almost the entire chapel if that gives you a better idea. The number of people that came to the viewing the night before the funeral was amazing. The viewing was to be from 6-8pm. It went well past 8:30pm and the line never had a break. It was so neat to see all the people whose lives have been touched in one way or another by Grandpa Summers. He was the only Grandfather I ever really knew. He is a wonderful grandfather to have. I will miss his laughter, his hugs and his stories of his beloved family.

We were able to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Summers in July this summer. I took this picture of them, aren't they so darling. I love that they are holding hands. Grandma Summers told me a few times this weekend that Grandpa would always say, "We could have a million dollars, but if we didn't have family we wouldn't have anything." Grandpa Summers will truly be missed.

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

2009-08-22T18:36:00.001-07:00

Do you remember that primary song? I always loved that one.

Here is what were have been doing for the summer.

Making crafts....

Playing in the backyard when it is not to hot....

Organizing our bedrooms and game/movie closet...

We did do plenty of swimming. At least once a week thanks to kind friends and neighbors. However, I did not get one picture of us swiming this summer. A camera is just not something I think of when I am swimming.

We watched lots of movies, read lots of books, made lots of new recipes, and played tons of games. Not to mention all the little trips we had, new places we got to see and all the family and friends we visited. It has been a good summer. Now it is time to get back to school on Monday. I don't know if I am happy or sad about that. Maybe a little of both.

I know my colors!!

2009-08-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

Brandon has been learning his colors for quite some time. He likes to tell me the colors of the things he sees and when he is done he always says "I know my colors." I hear this about 5-6 times a day and I love it. He is also trying to learn to count. That is taking a little longer than the colors. He counts "1, 2, 3, 4, 9" and then just keeps repeating the same sequence. So I tried to teach him to count to 5 with his fingers and then give me 5. So we would say "1,2,3,4,5, give me 5." We were in Utah last weekend and I told Brandon to count to 5 for his Aunt Randi and he held up his hand and said "1,2,3,6,11, give me 5!" What? Not sure where that one came from. So cute though. He does know some of the letters of the alphabet but right now he has no interest in learning the rest and gets mad when I try to sing the alphabet song. The letters he does know are B for Brandon (which he can actually draw too), D for Dad, E for Emma, J for Jake, M for Mom and S for Summers and of course Superman. It is a good thing he has 2 more years before he starts kindergarten, we have a lot of work to do. Love this kid!!

Last trip of summer vacation

2009-08-19T14:09:00.001-07:00

For our last trip we went to Marysvale, Utah for 5 days. 3 of the 5 days there was a UTV Jamboree going on and 2 out of the 3 days the town of Marysvale was having its annual Miner's Days celebration. (For those of you who do not know what a UTV is... it is an off road vehicle)

We didn't have much to do with the UTV jamboree except watch the tug-a war contests and help out my dad who was basically in charge of most of it.

For the Miner's days events they had gunny sack races, stilt walking, log sawing, atlatl throw, tomahawk throwing, 3-legged race, and archery to name a few. I took pictures of as much of the excitement as I could. The first picture is the kids running after the candy as it was thrown from the "candy cannon". Brandon ran with all the kids to get the candy however, he grabbed one piece and apparently that was all that he wanted so he ran back excitedly to show me.

You can't really tell from this picture, but they are throwing a hoop back and forth to each other while trying to catch it with the 2 long sticks.

The "mountain man" showing Matt how to throw a tomahawk properly.It took the kids 2 minutes to saw through the log. As you can see from the picture they needed some assistance.
The kids were also able to help out in the Coca-cola trailer selling soda pop, water and snow cones. They thought this was too awesome.
There was also a karaoke machine at the park for Miner's days and Emma sang 3 times. All of the songs were Taylor Swift songs, not much of a surprise. She sang one of the songs with her cousin Monroe who is almost 8 years old.

Monroe's mother, my sister-in-law, Michelle and I decided to do some karaoke too. We sang "I wanna dance with somebody" by Whitney Houston. Here are a few things I learned from my first time singing Karaoke.

1. Don't sing with someone who can sing better than you.

2. Nobody should sing Whitney Houston songs except Whitney Houston

3. Make sure you sing in front of strangers and people you will never see again in your life. Thank goodness I followed #3.

We had a fun trip visiting all the family we saw over the 5 days we were there.

Bye Bye Summer it has been nice knowing you.

Jake's primary talk

2009-08-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

Jake was assigned to give a talk in primary on Sunday. The topic was temples. He basically wrote the talk himself with very little help from me. The talk was only 1 mintute long and that was long enough for Jake. Here it is:

This summer my family was able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house in Draper, Utah.
I liked to see the big font for the baptisms for the dead.
I liked the celestial room with the big chandelier.
I thought the temple was a very special place.
I was glad I got to see the inside of the temple and see all the neat rooms.
I have heard of the sealing rooms in the temples where families are sealed together forever but it was really neat to actually see one.
In the sealing rooms there are 2 mirrors that face each other. My family stood in front of one of the mirrors and we saw our reflection go on forever. Just like my family we be together forever.
Temples are built so people can be sealed and have families together forever. I am thankful for temples and for the blessings it gives to all of God's children.

Lawn mowing 101

2009-08-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

Since the weather was only 95 degrees one evening (sad I know). Matt decided to mow our little lawn and teach Emma and Jake how to use the lawnmower. Since the lawn is so small they were not able to practice much but I am sure they didn't care.

As always Brandon wants to get in on the action. So we got his bubble lawn mower out of the garage and filled it with bubble solution and he was on his way with a huge smile on his face.

I have to say I am actually surprised at how well our lawn looks after going through this Las Vegas heat so quickly after being planted. The best part though is we have had this lawn since May and we have only mowed it twice.

Emma's family birthday party

2009-08-05T19:32:00.001-07:00

After Emma's big slumber party I was not about to do anything extravagant for her actual birthday. So we made homemade pizza and I made Emma a double layer cake which she insisted she decorate. So I frosted the cake and she decorated the cake. I have to say I was a bit bummed out about the cake because even though I don't decorate cakes fabulously I still enjoy doing it. I told Emma this and her reply was "You have had 9 years of decorating my cakes, get over it." Nice huh? (It actually didn't come out as rude as it may sound)

Emma did let me do the writing on the cake and she did the rest. She did a great job considering she only had a ziplock bag with the tip cut off to decorate with.

Matt attacked Emma with the whip cream bottle.

Emma is very excited about finally being 10 and told us all numerous times during the day. We all had fun hanging out, eating pizza, eating cake and ice cream and playing Ms. Pac Man on the playstation.

Happy Birthday Emma!!

2009-08-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

Today is Emma's 10th birthday. I can hardly believe I have a child who has reached double digits in age. Where did the time go? Better yet, where did my little girl go? I have enjoyed every age with my little Emma Kaye. Oh yes, we have our few moments as mother and daughter when we don't see eye to eye but, for the most part we really enjoy each others company.

I have posted some random pictures of Emma since 2005(that is when our digital world began). I have no pictures of her as baby to post but, trust me she was chubby and beautiful.

Here are just a few of the reasons I enjoy being Emma's mother.

1. She is very thoughtful of others.

2. She is a great student. I do not have to push her to do well in school she does that all on her own.

3. She is beautiful inside and out.

4. She is very creative.

5. She has a great contagious laugh.

6. She loves her family and shows it in many ways.

7. She loves to read.

8. She likes to cook and bake and eat with me.

9. She loves the gospel and likes to teach people about it.

10. She is a girly girl who doesn't mind getting dirty.

This next picture was just taken a year ago and already she has changed so much. Not just in her appearance but in her personality and maturity.

We are so blessed to have you in our family. Happy Birthday Emma!! We love you!!

Emma's 10th Birthday Party!!

2009-08-02T16:44:00.001-07:00

For Emma's 10th birthday she had Hollywood Slumber party. She invited 4 friends and asked them to dress up like they were celebrities. Aren't they all cute? As a side note, Emma made the big poster behind the girls.Emma wanted pasta for dinner so pasta she got. Each chair had a gold star with the girl's name on it so they knew where to sit. Emma with her awesome gifts from her friends. She was very pleased with the gifts.

For dessert she wanted bite size mint brownies. How was I suppose to put 10 candles in a bite size brownie? I ended up cutting a regular size brownie and cramming all the candles in that one. Here she is blowing her candles out. I wonder what she wished for?

They played a celebrity guess who game, movie charades and then played High School Musical Sing it on our playstation A.K.A. Karaoke.

Later in the evening they had a P. J. fashion show. The girls were really working the red carpet. This is their red carpet fashion pose.Getting comfy watching a movie and eating treats.
The girls took a SHORT 5 hour break to sleep from 2am-7 am (UGH!) and then got back to playing around and hanging out. After breakfast we had an awards ceremony complete with certificates for "best game player", "best joker", "best morning hair" and "best pajamas." We really should have had one for "best snorer" because we definitely had one!!
While the girls were waiting for their parents to pick them up they decided to do each other's hair and play more karaoke.

Emma has this to say about her 10th birthday party. "A party is not a party without friends. Thanks for coming and making my birthday rock!"

Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point

2009-07-20T13:06:00.001-07:00

Another stop we made on our trip to Utah was to the Dinosaur museum. The museum was celebrating it's 9th birthday so we were able to do some fun extra things for FREE like... face painting, making a craft, fly fishing and feeding the cardboard cutout dinosaur. We also made a fossil and saw a 3D movie about Dinosaurs. We had a great day at the museum.Emma's face painting choice.

Brandon's "water dinosaur".

Jake's choice.

THE T-REX!!!!

The museum had a lot of hands on exhibits. Here the kids are building their own dinosaur. Then they were pretending to be a dinosaur.

Brandon and the baby dinosaur.Jake and the giant prehistoric shark. Emma and Brandon were too afraid to go near the shark.

The wooley mammoth a.k.a " Manny". The kids loved the Ice Age section of the museum.

If you ever get a chance to go to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point I highly recommend it.

Summers Family Photo Shoot 2009

2009-07-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

These are the lastest photos of the kids, our little family, Matt and I and Matt's extended family. Enjoy.

What do you think of this photo of Brandon? I think it is adorable but, should I pick a different one with his hands not in his mouth?

4th of July and Beyond...there are 3 posts so keep reading...

2009-07-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

We went to Richfield, Utah for the 4th of July which seems to be somewhat of a tradition the last few years. We always have a great time visiting with Matt's family and enjoying small town Utah. Richfield has a parade on the 4th of July and fireworks in the evening. Here are just a few pictures from the parade. This is the boys with a tractor in the parade. My city kids love this country stuff.

A parade wouldn't be complete without candy. The kids would run out into the street to collect the candy as fast as they could. They not only had competition from their cousins but also from the kids sitting next to us.

Ahhhh, the face of satisfaction when returning from the hunt with candy.

This is the a picture of the gang that sat out in the hot sun to watch a few tractors, dairy princesses and very few floats go by while having candy flung at them. Don't we all look excited?

Later in the week we went to Northen Utah. Snowville and Tremonton to be exact to visit Matt's grandparents. The next picture is Grandma Edna Morgan from Snowville. We had a nice time visiting and even left with some stuffed animals.

Next stop, Tremonton to visit Grandma and Grandpa Summers. Notice the wheat in the field behind their house. The kids took turns mowing their yard on the riding lawnmower. YEEHAW! They also found a stray dog and played with it most of the time they were there. They named it Diesel. Maybe one day they will have a dog. MAYBE. The kids and I spent some time with my Aunt Linda from Lindon Utah. We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Tempe open house. It is in West Jordon. It was beautiful as expected and really neat for all of us to experience. Jake's favorite part was the baptistry. Apparently, it was Brandon's too because he kept asking to see the "cows" again.This is my cousin Marlie Reed (Linda's daughter) with her boys Jackson and Wesley. She flew in from Colorado to visit her brother Steve and his family who flew in from Virginia. Have I confused you yet? It was fun to visit with everyone at Aunt Linda's house.
Steve and Jenny Nelson with Houston and Brady.

Trip to Utah- Capitol Reef National Park

2009-07-14T09:58:00.001-07:00

On July 3rd we went with Matt's family to Capitol Reef National Park. First, we had a nice picnic in this beautiful area complete with deer wondering around. It was so great.

Then we got ready to go on our hike to a natural bridge called Hickman Bridge. Here is Jake with his pick for a walking stick. Are you kidding me? We had to make some adjustments to his walking stick. He ended up ditching it half way on the hike anyway. This is the Hickman bridge we hiked to. It was a mile hike up to the bridge. Brandon actually did really well. This is him pretending to be Matt on the hike with his hat and backpack.

This is the family at Hickman bridge. Emma and I were really not enjoying ourselves. I am not a hiker and apparently my daughter takes after me. Jake had a blast.

This is just a view of what we saw while hiking. It was very pretty. It was a fun day to spend with the family. Thanks to Tandy and Mel (Matt's sister) for organizing everything for the day.

Trip to Utah- Cove Fort

2009-07-14T07:45:00.001-07:00

Our first stop was to Cove Fort just off I-15 and I-70. This is the fort President Hinckley's grandfather built. The first picture is the front gate/door of the fort. The picture is not centered very well because the cute little old missionary took it.

These are the original doors to the fort. This is a tree that has been here the whole time the fort has been. The missionaries told us how old it was but I have since forgotten. I am guessing 100+ years. You can also see a little of the inside of the fort.

This is the cantraption they would put the horse and oxen in to shoe them.

This is a plow they used.

The kids in the barn by an old salt lick by their feet. Please notice Brandon's pose.

The pioneer kids would play this game. You try to keep the metal part of the wagon wheel going as long as you can by pushing it with the metal stick.

This is all of us in front of a covered wagon. Shortly after we got to the fort there was a huge dust storm which you can kind of see in some of the pictures. Then it started raining a little. By the time our tour was over my car was a muddy mess.

We had a fun time at cove fort and I am sure we will go back again some day to do it all over again.

Choir performance and School Awards

2009-06-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

Emma has been in the school choir all year and they finally had their concert the week before school was out. (Yes, I know I am about 2 weeks behind schedule, leave me alone I am enjoying my summer.) Anyway the choir only sang about 7 songs and they were all great. This is Emma and her choir/music teacher Ms. Cazzaza.

Emma played the tabano for one of the songs. She had fun doing that too.

At the awards assembly Emma received Principal's Honor Roll for straight A's again for the 3rd time. She kept straight A's all year long. She got a Good Attendance award and a certificate for participating in the spelling bee.

Jake received Principal's Honor Roll as well and kept straight A's all year long too. He got a Great Attendance award and a certificate for participating in the spelling bee.

I am not sure where I got such smart kids. They must get it from their dad.

Always of course if Emma and Jake are getting their pictures taken then Brandon wants his picture taken too. So here he is... Sadly, I actually had him pose for this picture. He does this move a lot around the house. I am sure I would throw my back out if I attempted such a thing.

Fun day with the family

2009-06-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday we took the kids to Bass Pro Shops. All summer they are having FREE workshops and FREE activities like, shooting, fishing, and archery to name a few on Saturday and Sunday. The kids had a great time and also got a FREE picture taken. They had to stand in front of this back drop and pretend to hold up their "catch". Then 2 days later I was able to download their super imposed picture with the fish. Funny thing is...fishing is the one outdoor sport we actually don't do. But I still think the pictures are cute.

Sadly these are the only pictures I got of the adventure to Bass Pro Shops because once again I forgot my camera. After we left Bass Pro Shops we went to the MGM Grand hotel and casino to see the MGM lions. We got there just in time for feeding time. The people feeding the lions would throw the meat on the windows of their cage so we could watch the lions lick or eat the food off the window. I can't decide if that was gross or cool. The kids enjoyed the quick trip.

Again their are no photos of this event because I still did not have my camera. I will try to do better next time.

Piano Recital

2009-06-08T12:14:00.000-07:00

Emma and Jake have been taking piano lesson for a little over a year with a short break when we moved to Las Vegas. Their piano teacher here is Emily Hilton. She is in our ward. Emma and Jake really enjoy her as a teacher and want to continue taking piano lessons, so I guess that is a compliment to Emily. They had their first recital with Emily on May 30th. I only took pictures of them at the recital. One day I will record them playing their recital pieces. Jake played a song from Star Wars and a song called "Magic Man".

Emma played a Sonatina and a song from "The Sound of Music".

They both did a great job. The best part of the recital was the fact that it was only 15 minutes long. Emily only has 4 students right now. I love those kind of recitals.

Brandon turns 3!!!

2009-05-31T19:47:00.000-07:00

Brandon turned 3 on May 30th. For those of you who don't know Brandon had rough entry into this world. He was born 3 weeks early and when he was born he was not breathing. The doctors and nurses were able to get him breathing and I was able to hold him for a few minutes before they took him to the NICU where he began his 13 day stay. He struggled to breath for about 1 full day until they put him on a ventilator to help him breath. He was not getting any better so a day or so later they put him on a high frequency ventilator. The doctors told us that a baby in Brandon's condition has only 4 steps they can do for him and he was already on step 2 and getting close to step 3. Once they do step 4 and it doesn't work he might die. Not the words parents want to hear. Matt and I were of course freaked out. Our wonderful ward in Fontana, CA had a ward fast for him 2 days later and the next day he started to improve. It took him more than a week to be completly ventilator free but he did it. The picture below is Brandon on the first ventilator.

This is a picture of Matt and I the first day we could take Brandon out of his bed and hold him. He came home 3 days later.

This is a picture of our healthy baby boy. This was the picture we sent in his birth announcement. Don't you just love the eyes.

This is Brandon eating his birthday cake on his 2nd birthday. I love the chubby cheeks.

This is Brandon on his 2nd birthday in our backyard on the swingset in Fontana, CA.

And finally my sweet Brandon at 3 years old. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. Dispite all the trauma of his birth and first couple of weeks of life he has been a real joy to have around. Emma and Jake adore him and he loves them right back. Brandon is a true miracle and blessing to our family. We love you Brandon! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Memorial Day Weekend and Brandon's Birthday

2009-05-31T19:29:00.001-07:00

We went to Utah for Memorial Day and to celebrate Brandon's birthday with family. Usually when the kids have a family birthday party it would just end up being the 5 of us so, it was so fun to have aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents there to celebrate. As you can see from the picture Brandon had mixed emotions about his birthday. Half the time he was laughing and smiling and the rest of the time he was pouting and crying. Oh, the life of a 3 year old.
Brandon had a Diego party as you can see from the poster behind him and his hat.

I love the pictures of people blowing their candles out, and this picture did not disappoint.

On Memorial Day we went down to the RV park my brother and dad own in Marysvale, Ut. We all got busy helping out where we could. Emma is busy cleaning the Ranger...

Brandon and Matt are doing some repairs on the Kawasaki...

and Jake is now where to be seen. He was probably playing by the creek. I of course was supervising everyone. :)

We got a backyard!!

2009-05-31T19:10:00.000-07:00

Okay so when we moved in to this house we received a voucher to have our backyard done. It was not a huge amount of money but enough to get a little grass and some trees and bushes. This first picture is the before picture. This is a picture of the curbing for the backyard that was put in a few days before the grass and trees.

This is the finished product. There was not a whole lot to do so it only took the landscapers one day to do it all. The best part is that it was all FREE!! Eventually we will have a patio and maybe one day in the far distant future we will have a pool. You cannot see from this photo but the other half of the yard is all gravel with a few trees. It would be a great place for a trampoline. Maybe we will get one when the weather cools off. Anyway we are enjoying the yard and the kids love having grass again.

Brandon Says...

2009-04-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

And now for a few funny things Brandon has said lately. Last night the kids were trying to decide on a movie for us all to watch. They had picked Gremlins, Brandon picked up the DVD case and said "That movie is freaky". What? Where did he learn that and has he even seen Gremlins? Who knows.

Today he wet his pants and so I gave him a bath and then decided it was time for him to take a nap so I laid down by him and started talking to him before I read him some stories. I said, "Next time you body tells you that you have to go potty you need to tell mommy so we can get you to the bathroom." To which he replied very concerned "My body doesn't have a mouth."

And finally, we have a small 5X7 picture of the Savior on our kitchen counter. While we were eating dinner tonight Matt asked him if he knew who that was in the picture. He said "Jesus from church". Apparently he only learns about Jesus in church. Better fix that one quick. Love that kid he keeps us lauging and smiling all the time.

Primary Little League

2009-04-25T19:14:00.001-07:00

Let me just start by saying that the pictures of Emma and Jake are really bad because I could not zoom in any further and I was not about to run out to the field just to get a good picture. Okay so anyway, Emma and Jake are involved in our Stake Primary Little League which I think is so awesome!! It is for 8 weeks every Thurdsay from 5-8pm. It is held at a ball field behind one of the church buildings in our stake. It only takes 15 mins. to get there. We take our picnic dinner with us or buy food there. They have a concession stand too. The kids are on seperate teams but play their games at different times so that works out great for me. It is tons of fun and the kids are having a blast. Oh did I mention that is was FREE!!! There truly is nothing to complain about. Okay maybe the bleachers. I worry I am going to get a sliver in my bum every time I sit down. Some scout needs to do any Eagle project on the bleachers. I will try to take better pictures next week with a better zoom lense.

You may have asked (or may not), what does Brandon do the whole 3 hours while Emma and Jake play baseball? He usually sits by me the 1st couple of hours and then he starts wondering and ends up playing with other kids on the grass. However, last week he kept playing "dead". See picture below. He would lay there for 10 minutes at a time waiting for someone to find him and then bring him to the "doctor" whoever wanted to be the doctor. He did this for a solid 45 mintues I kid you not. I would catch him sometimes running and then falling into this position and lay there for a minute and get up and run again only to fall down "dead" again. I have no idea what he was doing but it kept him entertained which I thought was awesome.