Holy Reese's!!

Josh brought home this 2 lb. Reese's cup from work today, a friend of his gave it to him (there were 2 of these in a package).  When Jaron saw it, he went crazy!!  He wanted to eat it sooo bad...

        ...but I wouldn't let him eat it all by himself, he'd get a tummy ache!  I told him he had to share it.  As soon as Jaedyn and Jantzen saw it, they went crazy too, so I cut it up for them to share.  However, I only let them have a little bit of it because they hadn't eaten dinner yet.     They didn't like that they couldn't eat the whole thing at once, but it was nice to use it as leverage to get them to do their chores.

My Little Zumba Girl!

Jaedyn is starting to develop a love for zumba just like me.  I've been taking zumba classes at the gym for almost a year now and I absolutely love it!  Jaedyn loves to hear about me going and she always asks me if I'm going to "shake my booty" at the gym.

Tonight she got the chance to "shake her booty" with the YW in our ward.  They were having an activity that was all about zumba.  Jaedyn just had to stay and join in on the booty shaking action, and she was pretty good!  I got some fun videos of her and I'd have to say that I think she's a natural when it comes to dancing.

      "Shake it for me girl!!!"  That was the song that Jaedyn loved the most tonight...me too!  I love Luke Bryan and so does Jaedyn!   Jaedyn had so much fun dancing zumba style with the YW, she was so mad when I made her leave so she could go home and go to bed.  I really need to find a "mommy and me" zumba class that we can take together.

Little "Josh" Wanna-be!

I think Josh shrunk!!

Oh wait, it's just Jaedyn doing a VERY GOOD impression of her daddy!

   Yep, he likes to play on his cell phone!
Jaedyn put masking tape on her face, all by herself, to make her have a beard like her daddy.  I thought it was hilarious!       This little girl is seriously such a ham!  She really knows how to put smiles on our faces!  

End of Exams!

Today was the last day of final exams for Jaron, Kennedy, and Sadie.  To celebrate, Nena and I took the kids for their annual "End of Exam" lunch.  They chose Subway this time...good choice kids!

   Lunch was yummy, as usual.  We all had a good time chatting, eating, and teasing each other.  .Now, I hope they all did well on their exams so they can keep up their good grades!

My Little Tiger Model...

Jaedyn loves it when it's time to take the "Tiger of the Month" pictures at Jantzen's school.  Every month she helps out making sure it all goes well.  Her favorite thing to do to help me out is to pose for me with the tiger to make sure the lighting will be okay for the pictures...

  I hope she's this enthusiastic to be here when it comes time for her to go to this school everyday, all day next year!

YM's Basketball...

Tonight was Jaron's first basketball game with the YM.  He was a little nervous to play because he is smaller than most of the boys out there, but he did fine.  He told me that he was worried about hurting one of his fingers.  I think he's that way because I broke my middle finger playing YW's basketball three different times and he doesn't want to make it so he can't play his guitar.

  He spent half the game on the bench with Ethan, which he was completely fine with...       I had to throw in a picture of Josh playing with his gum while watching the game.  He loves it when I take pictures like this, okay he really doesn't, but I do it anyway!     The game ended up being a tie, which I was really bugged about, only because of the rules they play/don't play by.  The rules apparently have been changed for the YM because there have been too many fights, so they had to try and avoid that as much as possible.   I won't even mention how horrible the referees were...oops, I guess I just did!   I think overall Jaron had a fun time.  Hopefully the rest of the season will go well.   Go Harmony Hills Ward!

First Guitar Concert...2014!

Tonight we got to watch Jaron play in his first guitar concert for school.  He's in Intermediate Guitar this year and has been loving every minute of it...it's his favorite class!

This is Jaron before the concert began.  I was so happy that he was on the front row.  It makes it nicer for pictures and recording his performance.

    Jaron was a little nervous at first, but it didn't show during his performance...he did awesome!       They played several songs for us that they've been learning in class, then they all got to stand for all the parents to take pictures of them...       This is Jaron with his favorite teacher, Mr. Olsen, who just happens to be the most awesome guitar teacher ever!  All the kids love him!          We're so proud of Jaron and the talent he has for the guitar.  He's such an awesome kid!       I had a talk with Mr. Olsen after the concert and he told me what a talented kid Jaron is.  I loved hearing that!  Jaron has been interested in learning how to play the guitar since he was eight years old and I'm so glad he's loving it and is good at it.  Now, if I could just get him to sing for us while he plays.  He has a good voice, but won't let us hear it.   Keep up the good work my little rock star!!

Mommy & Jaron Date Night!

Last night Jaron and I went on our mommy/son date.  He's been really excited for this night and I've been looking forward to spending some quality time with just him.

Our plans for the evening included dinner at Olive Garden.  I think that might be where I always go when I take my boys out, they love that place and Josh doesn't.  Dinner was really good, as you can tell by the look on Jaron's face...

   After we stuffed ourselves with yummy pasta, salad, and bread sticks, we headed over to "King Putt" to do some miniature golfing.  We've never actually taken our kids to do this, so Jaron was really excited to try it out.  It was really fun there because it was all lit up with black lights, so things glowed in different colors.       Even my nails looked pretty cool...      We had a fun time playing around with the animals while we were golfing...                   We played two games of mini golf and in the first game we did a lot of do-overs.  Jaron ended up winning the first game, but I won a free game at the end.  For the second game we agreed that we weren't going to allow any do-overs, but I still let Jaron have a few.  I ended up winning the second game, but this time Jaron was the one to win a free game at the end.  He said that means that we have to come back and face off again.
Here we are with our free game passes...       ...and here's Jaron with our score card...       When we left Jaron said, "That was so much fun!  I can't wait to go back!".
Before we headed home for the night we went to "U-Swirl" for some yummy frozen yogurt.  This was the main thing that Jaron wanted to do on our date.  He chose his flavor of frozen yogurt and then loaded on his toppings...Chocolate with chocolate chips!  He's so predictable!      We had some fun conversations while we ate our yogurt and Jaron even saw a girl he knew from 5th grade there.  However, he was too chicken to go over and say "hi" to her, maybe because I was there with him.  They did say "hi" to each other when we were leaving though...silly pre-teens!     At the end of our date Jaron told me, "Thanks for such a fun night!".  I'm happy that he had a good time because I did too.

Fun Start to 2014!!

We started out the new year up at Logandale Trails with our friends, the Nelsons, for a day of riding.  It's the best time of year to go since the weather is so nice.

When we first got there the boys all took off on a hike, so Jaedyn and I went for a hike by ourselves while Josh went for a ride on his dirt bike.  Jaedyn was having so much fun wandering around,even though I wouldn't let her go as high up as the boys were going.  She can't wait until she's older so she can go as high as her brothers do.

   This is Jaron and Grant being crazy.  They're up a lot higher than it looks in this picture.  Even Jantzen was a little hesitant to go up as high as they were.      After a little bit of hiking, Luke and Jessica let us take their side-by-side for a ride with the kids.  Jaedyn and Jantzen rode in the back, Josh and I were in the front...       ...while Jaron rode his dirt bike and Grant rode his four wheeler behind us.      Then we let them get in front of us to lead the way...       We all had a lot of fun on that ride.  Josh is really wanting a side-by-side now...I think it would be fun too!       Jaron and Grant did a lot of riding together.  Jaron took the little four wheeler for a ride and Grant rode his dirt bike...           Logan even took Jaron for a little ride...  
  Logan asked Josh to take his picture, then he got a little shy when it came down to it...      A little later we all decided to take a ride up to the petroglyphs, so all the girls plus Jaron and Jantzen loaded up in the side-by-side, Josh rode his dirt bike, Grant rode on the little four wheeler, and Luke and Logan rode on the big four wheeler and we headed out.      We stopped along the way so Josh could show off his jumping skills...       ...then we finally made it to the petroglyphs.
All the kids had a fun time exploring up there...you can see it on their faces.                              We let the kids play for a while, then we headed back to camp because it was starting to get dark.
Luke got a fire going which made the kids happy because it was starting to get a little cold.  The boys had a little too much fun playing with the fire...they're all a bunch a pyros, no matter what age they are!          The Nelsons were staying up there to camp, but we weren't able to because Josh had to go to work...maybe next time.   Jaedyn fell asleep on the way home and she stayed that way the rest of the night.  I can't say I blame her, she had a busy day of playing and she does look pretty comfortable on the couch...     The kids are all asking when we can go up to Logandale Trails again to go camping...I hope soon!  It's so nice and relaxing up there and I love it that the kids can go off and explore and not sit on their tablets and phones.  Now, we just need to figure how we can get a side-by-side to play in.