Jantzen's 1st Spelling Bee

Jantzen was one of the top four spellers (he always got 100% on his spelling tests) in his class, so today he was in the school belling bee. We practiced his word list over the weekend and he did good, but I could sense he was a little nervous for the actual spelling bee. Josh was able to come watch him and that made him happy. Jantzen tends to rush through things when he's nervous instead of thinking them through first, so we gave him a little pep talk before the spelling bee started to help calm his nerves and hopefully help him relax. We also told him that no matter if he wins or not, that we're so proud of him for making it into the school spelling bee.

Jantzen got to sit by his friend Jose during the spelling bee and I think that made him happy, at least that's the vibe I'm getting from his face...

...the two of them were joking around during the spelling bee when it wasn't their turn. I'm glad he was having a good time.

The kids were allowed to miss two words before they would be eliminated from the spelling bee and Jantzen made it through several rounds before he missed his second word. He was so devastated, I felt so bad for him. He went out into the hallway after getting his certificate and started crying. We gave him a hug and told him again how proud we are of him for making it into the spelling bee in the first place.

This was the best smile I could get from Jantzen, he had been crying and still wasn't very happy...




Jantzen went back to class and when he got home after school, he seemed to be fine about not winning. We told him again how proud we are of him and all he's accomplished this year at school and that made him happy. And, now all is well in Jantzen's world again. We love you buddy!

Memorial Day Ride

Yesterday for Memorial Day we took the kids up to the lake bed to do some riding. Jantzen was excited to go because Josh took off his training wheels, so this was going to be his very first time riding his dirt bike without them.

When we got there, the boys got all geared up...

...Josh gave some last minute instructions to Jantzen, and then they were off. Jantzen did very well for his first time without training wheels and he was loving the freedom...


Jaedyn stayed with me and enjoyed her lunch. I love how Josh didn't open the part of her Lunchable that contains the Oreos. She usually eats them first, so this is the only way we can prevent that.


After riding for a little while, Josh strapped his GoPro onto Jaron's helmet to record both him and Jantzen riding. Jaron was so excited to wear it!




When Jantzen got tired, he came in for a break and Jaedyn made her daddy take full advantage of that. She insisted that he take her for a ride, and she loved every minute of it...Jaron tagged along with them.


My kids (yes, I'm including Josh in that category) enjoyed some goof off time together...


Here's my cute, dirty-faced kids...


Jaedyn finally mastered the "Rock On" hands and she had to show them off to me. To get a better effect from it, Josh let her wear his hat and sunglasses...she's so stinkin' cute!


It was a little warm up at the lake bed, but the kids had a blast! Jaron made himself a track in the dirt and spent a couple hours riding it. He just loves riding on the tracks he makes and he's getting so good at riding his bike. Jantzen loved riding his bike without the training wheels and looks forward to riding again so he can get really good at riding like his brother and Jaedyn can't wait until she gets a bike of her own. It'll be fun to see her riding with her brothers...they have so much fun.

Jaedyn's 1st Haircut

Jaedyn's almost 3 years old and she just barely got her first haircut yesterday by her grandma Goddard. She didn't really know what to think or expect about this, but we reassured her it was going to be okay.

Jaedyn's hair was getting pretty long, which is fun to style, but it was growing in two different layers and the longer layer was getting pretty thin, so it was time for it to go bye bye. Here's the before picture...


Jaedyn started getting really nervous when her grandma sprayed her hair with water...


...so her daddy let her watch a movie on his phone and that made everything all better.




Here's Jaedyn's hair after her cut was all done. I think her grandma cut off about 4-5 inches. It looked and felt so much better than it did before...


And here's my beautiful princess after her hair was all done, I think she likes her new hair cut...




Jaedyn made it through her first haircut and she looks absolutely beautiful, not that she wasn't already the cutest girl in the world before.

Zion National Park

We started off our Memorial weekend yesterday by heading up to Zion National Park. This was the first time going there for all of us, except Josh. We were all so excited.

We decided to drive up the Zion-Mount Carmel Hwy first. We did take a few stops along the way to check out the beautiful scenery...


This is what Jaedyn decided to do during the drive...


Here's Jaron with his grandpa John who came along with us...


My boys...


It was a little chilly when we first got up there and the boys didn't bother bringing their jackets, so they were slightly cold for part of the day...




Jaron and Jantzen got in a little bit of hiking and playing before we headed farther up the highway...


Jaedyn finally woke up and this is how happy she was about it...


We stopped at the "Checkerboard Mesa" (the mountain in the background). It's called that because there's grooves in the mountain that look like a big checker board. The boys thought it was pretty cool, Jaedyn cried because she wanted me to hold her.


My boys are so goofy!


Me and Josh...it took a few shots to get a good smile out of him.


For the rest of the ride up the highway, we let Jaedyn sit in the back seat with the boys...she loved it! I thought it was cute how they were all holding hands...


Then, every corner we went on they all acted like they were being squished...and they all giggled the whole time. I love it when my kids all get along like this!


After we headed back down the highway, we went through the Mount Carmel Tunnel, which is a mile long, and the kids loved every minute driving through it.

Here's the kids with "The Great Arch" behind them. On top of it is the "Canyon Overlook Trail", but we didn't stop to hike it, I'm deathly afraid of heights!


We got all the way back down the highway and decided to take the shuttle bus up the "Zion Canyon Scenic Drive". Along the way we saw several deer, a wild turkey, and a huge bird with long blue wings (I still haven't been able to figure out what kind of bird it was). We rode the shuttle all the way up to the "Temple of Sinawava" where the "Narrows" are located. We got out and went for a hike on the "Riverside Walk" up to see the "Narrows"...


We met some new friends along the way...


It was such a beautiful walk...




The kids with their grandpa John...


Jaedyn wanted to check out the river below, so I made Josh take her out on the rock ledge because, again, I'm deathly afraid of heights...




We finally made it up to the "Narrows"...






There were a lot of people getting in the water, but it was a little too cold for that, so my kids just played instead. They had a blast throwing rocks in the river, trying to see who could get a rock all the way across it.


Jaedyn got so excited every time she threw a rock in the water, she'd jump up and down and yell, "wahoo!"...it was really cute.


Jantzen found this rock ad loved it because he said it looked like an egg...


After the kids played for a little while, we headed back down the trail. Along the way I took some more pictures of the beautiful scenery with my kids, of course...

Here's Jaron with his walking stick he found...


...and Jaedyn with some more of her furry little friends...




I got a close up of one of the squirrels, they were very friendly. Jaron loves this picture...


Jaedyn got some snuggle/giggle time in with her daddy...




...and one last picture of my monkeys...


These are some of the pictures I got of some scenery throughout our walk through Zion. I think it's so beautiful up here...


When we were leaving, my kids were already talking about the next time we come up here. I'm so glad we decided to come up, it was such a nice day!