Happy Samoan Flag Day!

July 23 is Samoan Flag Day. With July 24 being Pioneer day, and Samoa being a smaller, seldom well known but beautiful asset to the United States, many people probably don't even know that July 23 is Flag day in Samoa. Well it is! So here's to Samoa! Anyone want to go visit?

Happy Fourth of July! - 2009

This one was fun and relaxing. We didn't go anywhere special or do anything exciting. We just spent the day home spending time as a family. We even had a nice visit with Dave and Stephanie and their cute kids. Unfortunately, I wasn't intuitive enough to think about taking a picture with all of us together. Maybe next time! Here's cute little Addi, though. I got quite a few pictures of her, but this was my favorite expression. It was halfway between "cheese!" and "Hey, gimme that camera!" Cute.

And Blake. He found Lucas's belt and was pretending it was a snake.

Austin and Chase spent almost the entire time downstairs watching cartoons with Sarah. It made for a little quieter visit for the parents upstairs, except that Alex and Lucas had just woke up from a nap when they arrived and were not real happy about it. They were fighting over who got to sit on Jeff's lap almost the entire time.

Jeff didn't want me to even take this picture, much less post it. But I had to. It still makes me laugh. He was sort of hum-singing (halfway humming, halfway singing) The Star Spangled Banner whilst eating it's replica. (see below). I found it nothing short of hilarious. Sorry Jeff. This one had to make it in here. Probably in our "Year in Review" book this year, too!

The kids helped me make flag and star Rice Krispy treats as part of the festivities this year. It was scrumptiously fun! And it's what Jeff was eating.

Oh, and my hair! I dyed it red and blue for the occasion. I had put some pink in my hair a few weeks before, and was unhappy with how fast it faded and washed out. So this time I tried a different brand of color. It was great! Bold and bright. However, I should have been thinking more about my upcoming high school reunion that was to happen in 7 days. I had 7 days to wash it all out. It didn't quite make it (see WA trip post above). Oh well. Live and learn, right? It looked cute for the day.



As I said, we didn't go anywhere this year. We are privileged to have a fireworks show presented by the city of North Ogden conveniently held at the high school stadium up the street. We walked up to our neighbor's driveway and watched with them from there. Here's Alex and Sarah watching them light off their own fireworks in the street before the big show.

Right before the big show started, I had to run and get Audrey from escaping down the street. As we were coming back, the first fireworks were lit. Here's her expression when she saw them in the sky for the first time! She said, "Pretty!" and pointed up at the sky. How adorable her innocence is.

I must have had the camera on the wrong setting. Most of the pictures were blurry and not very good, so I picked the best one. I love fireworks.HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!

Happy Birthday Alex and Lucas! - 2009

Yes, I know. I'm slow. We've been busy. But better late than never. The boys turned 3 this year, and it was a super fun birthday. They played outside all day with the family, we got to roast hot dogs in the back yard and eat cake. Plus, they got some pretty neat presents (photos to follow). All in all, they had a good day. Happy birthday boys!

Here's Alex's excited face. He was about to open presents.

Here's his face after opening practically each one of his presents.

Lucas was just as excited through the day, but just a little less expressive.

Poor little Audrey. She just couldn't understand why she wasn't allowed to open presents, too! "First, Sarah gets a bunch of cool stuff. Then Mama. Now Alex and Lucas? When's my turn??" Your day is coming, my dear. Just wait a little longer.

I'm so upset that I didn't think to get out the video camera for this one. Here's the boys' faces while running to thier next present. (see below) Alex actually screamed, "Ahhhhhh!!!" He sounded like a little girl; he was so excited.


And here's what they were running to:They're carrying the bags that they opened inside with their brand new helmets in them. They opened them up and said, "Cool!" but didn't realize that they were going to get spiffy new bikes to go with them! Alex's bike is a Spiderman bike, and Lucas's is a Transformers one. We let them choose which ones they wanted, and they both chose for themselves. Surprisingly, there was no fighting over the same one. Way to share boys!

Since Alex has a brand new "cool" bike, he politely gave his old one to Audrey. Actually it was more like, "Here you go, Audrey!" as he hurriedly pushed the bike over to her, and ran (and I do mean "ran") back over to his new Spiderman bike. She didn't care, though. She was ecstatic that Alex would even let her touch it, much less ride it.

I think she was so in shock, she didn't quite know what to do with it, so she just stood there for a minute soaking it all in before getting on.

And, of course, the cake. Dinosaur. By request.Anyone notice anything out of place? Leave it in a comment and I'll tell you if you're right!

Unfortunately, they thought my coconut-laden palm trees had "poop" on them! Ehh, I tried.

Last, but not least, here we all are waiting for the Pleasant View Founder's Day fireworks show. It's always on or around the boys' birthday. If we ever move anywhere else, they're going to wonder why we stopped doing fireworks for their birthday! I guess we'll just have to never move! Yeah... we'll see. Since it doesn't get truly dark until almost 10pm, Audrey zonked before she actually got to see any fireworks! Oh well, maybe next year little cutie.HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY BOYS!

Happy Father's Day! - 2009

I just wanted to take this moment to wish my darling husband a happy Father's Day.

Jeff - I am so blessed to have you in my life. You do so much for me and the kids, and I really couldn't do it without you. You are such a great dad, and an amazingly supportive husband. I really appreciate you. I hope you're having a good Father's Day, even if you can't be with us today. We all love you more than you know!

I usually make Jeff some kind of picture frame with current pictures to take to work for Valentine's Day. I don't remember if I did that for him this year or not. But if I didn't, he got one for Father's Day instead! If I did, then he'll just have another set to look at on his desk when he gets lonely. Recently, we've gone on a couple of outdoor outings with the kids. They really enjoyed it, and loved the time we spent as a family exploring nature. That's where most of the pictures in this Father's Day collage came from.

The kids also really enjoy making pictures of their hands. They like to trace around their fingers, then color them all in. So, naturally, this tie with all their handprints on it was a fun choice for this year's Father's Day gift! It was fun to make. It was the first tie I have actually made, and I'd say it turned out pretty nicely. Plus, it was fun to paint my lips and plant a nice wet one on the tie to remind Jeff how much I love him!



In case he couldn't figure it out, I also wrote this little reminder on the ribbon on the back that holds the little part of the tie in place.

Jeff, you are truly loved. Don't ever forget it. Happy Father's Day Jeffrey-Love!

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

While she was here on Sunday, Grandma Kohler mentioned that it was going to be hard to top this birthday for Sarah. I think she's right! Sarah had an entire two-day long celebration for her fifth birthday this year. On Saturday, she had her friends come over for a water party. They all had a blast playing in the sprinklers, chasing each other around with squirt guns, fishing out little toy goldfish from the kiddie pool, and blasting each other with water balloons. All that, combined with cake, capri suns, treat bags and a pinata filled with candy... how could they not have fun? Sarah really enjoyed herself. Her favorite gift of the day was Sleeping Beauty's horse. It walks, bows, twirls its tail and makes trotting sounds. It was the only gift that we knew she wanted ahead of time. Her best friend, Katie picked it out for her.

Okay. These two pictures pretty much sum up her Saturday water party:She had so much fun that day, and she couldn't quit smiling for very long. My friend Nicole took these. I'm so glad she was there to capture some really great shots. I was so busy taking care of party things that I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. Thanks Nicole!

Here they all are blasting each other with water balloons. As you can see, Jeff got in on the fun with this activity.

And we can't forget the squirt gun fight.

Preparing the pinata.

This is what happens when, after the pinata was broken, I say, "Audrey! Candy!" She came running.

I think she's developed a bit of a sweet tooth... Here she is waiting for her second piece of cake:

Speaking of cake, I couldn't leave out the coolest part of the party. Or should I say "hottest?" Sarah really liked this one. She got to keep the sunglasses for wearing later.


And here's the reason I was up so late so many nights this last week. Didn't they turn out cute? We only broke one of them, so I have three left for either decorating or using later. Although the one we hit with the bat didn't last long. It dented right away, but apparently we needed something a little stronger than yarn to hold it up. The "string" broke and the kids ended up having to beat the beach ball senseless right on the grass! Future reference noted. They still thought it was fun, though. And when Jeff took the broken pinata and made it rain candy from the sky, they all scrambled screaming to pick it all up. Whatever works, right?


Okay, on to the second day of partying:

Grandma and Grandpa Kohler (Grandma Dee Dee and Grandpa Smoky) came over for Sunday dinner and a second round of presents and cake. Now this was fun. After dinner, we had Sarah open up a couple more presents we had for her. A book, puzzle, and Sleeping Beauty's dress with two of her fairy godmothers. Only the dress, you say? Where is Sleeping Beauty, you say? And where is the other fairy godmother, you say? Well, let me show you:


Now didn't that turn out nicely? Sarah was ecstatic to see this one. She knew exactly who it was. Then she saw that it lights up to change the dress color. Heaven. The doll goes with her favorite present of Saturday: Sleeping Beauty's Horse. The doll can actually ride it. Yep. Heaven.

But that wasn't all. As she was eating her cake, a little trail of baby horses mysteriously appeared in the hallway and up the stairs to Sarah's room. When Sarah saw them, I said, "Sarah, they must know something. Maybe you should follow them." So she did. All the way up to her room, where she found this:


Now she has a new favorite birthday present. She wouldn't even come out of her room to watch the movie Grandma Dee Dee had brought with her (Disney's Bedtime Stories) She caught the last fifteen minutes or so when she was tired of playing alone. She played with her new barn for hours that night, and spent a good portion of her time in her room playing with it today. She also spent a good portion of her time giving hugs and kisses, and saying "I love you, Mama." Sometimes varied to say, "I love you too much, Mama." She really likes her new birthday presents. She's definitely a cutie! Happy Birthday, Sarah!!

Happy Memorial Day 2009!

Jeff had the day off from work, and we decided to make it a fun ending to a three day weekend. After much deliberation throughout the weekend, Jeff and I decided to take the kids on a "hike" in the morning after breakfast. We went to a trail in Ogden that wound around a very large pond, and also touched up next to a river. The kids really loved exploring through the tall grasses and flowers. The trail was just over a mile long, and seemed to be just the right length for our little family. We were almost back around to the car when the kids started getting tired. They thoroughly enjoyed their hike yesterday.




Here I am in my red, white and blue tribute to the veterans.


This is one of my favorite pictures. If you could see her from the front, you'd notice her left hand is in her pocket. She was mimicking her older siblings who all found it very relaxing to walk around with their hands in their pockets.





This is what happens when we say "Alex and Lucas, come sit on this bench!"


As you can see, there was no sitting involved. Audrey was wondering where everyone went all of a sudden.

Along the way, the kids saw lots of things to stop and examine. This one was a great big snail.

They saw lots of different colored flowers along the way as well. Each of the kids picked one for me.



Even Jeff picked his favorite to add to my beautiful bouquet.


I graciously added his contribution to the others for this picture.


But here is it's ultimate resting place... I mean... you can't really blame me. It wasn't the prettiest, and it was prickly!

Here's the final bouquet. I would have put them in a little vase of water when we got home, but Lucas ended up stepping on them in the car and they didn't make it home in one piece. Oh well. At least I have these pictures to document the fact that my family loves me.

These are some of my favorite kinds of pictures. Jeff is such a good dad, and really loves the kids. Sarah had so much fun riding on Papa's shoulders. And Alex was just delighted to help push his little sister in the stroller. He loves to help, and he loves his sister.



Lucas couldn't be left out, though. Jeff was nice enough to indulge his request to be picked up. The car was only about 50 feet to the right behind Jeff in this picture. He carried them both the rest of the way there.

Happy Memorial Day!