Grandpa Cronin's Birthday Weekend

Last weekend we went up to Utah for grandpa Cronin's surprise 80th birthday party. We weren't looking forward to the long 8 hour drive, but we were excited to hang out with family that we don't see very often. It was cold up there, the kids froze every time we got out of the car...they were in shorts, you'd think they lived somewhere where it's hot this time of year.

We stayed at my parents house, which was nice for the kids. They don't see grandma and grandpa King very much and they love to play with Buddy and the Lincoln Logs. We got there just before midnight on Friday, so there wasn't any time to play. The next morning Jaron and Jantzen were quick to get out the Lincoln Logs and start building. Jaron built Jantzen these cool "Buzz Lightyear" jet pack wings out of them. Josh taped them to Jantzen's back and he was so happy, he didn't want to take them off when it was time to leave for the birthday party.


Jantzen also had to show off his cool new "Woody" socks...thank you Target dollar bin. He already has two pairs of "Buzz" one's, and has his eyes on the "Rex" and soldier ones.


At grandpa Cronin's house, we just hung out with family, waiting to go to uncle Mark's for the actual birthday party. While we were there, we got to enjoy some of grandpa's yummy homemade burritos that we had missed the night before...yes, the re fried beans and tortilla's are all homemade and are the best!

The boys ran around outside in the cold, and at times rain, while Jaedyn stayed inside and entertained the rest of us. I caught a cute impersonation of Elvis from her, check out that lip...



We finally left for Mark's house to start the party. The kids loved the big backyard and all the fun toys there. I hardly saw them all day, they were having so much fun playing with their cousins, in the rain.




After we ate lunch, we took some family pictures. I don't have one of the whole group, but I did get some with our little family. As you can see, it's very hard for our family to all smile or be serious in our pictures, Jaedyn just loves to pull Jantzen's hair...that's our crazy family.



After pictures, we sang "Happy Birthday" to grandpa Cronin, gave him his gifts, and then enjoyed some cake, root beer floats, and a variety of homemade fudge.


Here's Jaedyn hanging out with her uncle Colby. She's in a different outfit because she had her own mini photo shoot in this hat that her aunt Amber made. I will post them as soon as I get them because they turned out soooo cute!


We came home on Sunday, but before we left I got some fun pictures of the kids with their grandma and grandpa King. It took several shots because Jantzen was being kind of a stinker and didn't want his picture taken...I know, not "my" Jantzen. I did, however get some really cute smiles out of Jaedyn.


Overall, we had a quick, busy, but fun weekend. It was nice being able to get together with family from both sides that we don't see very much. I'm glad we all got along and hope that we can get together more often. "Happy Birthday" grandpa Cronin, we hope you had a good time too.

A Girl Who LOVES Her Snacks...

Jaedyn is by far the best eater out of all my kids, so far at least. Her absolute favorite thing to eat is her snacks. She loves the peach-mango fruit puffs and the peach yogurt melts. It seems like peach is her favorite flavor, she likes others, but not as much as the peach.

Whenever we give her some snacks she goes all crazy eating handfuls of them, almost like she hasn't been fed in days...it's so funny!

This was Jaedyn the other day while devouring the peach-mango fruit puffs...

She was eating them so fast, some were sticking to her face. That didn't phase her, she just kept putting more in her mouth. Maybe she was saving some for later. After she was all done, she was so happy and so was her tummy. I think she would eat fruit puffs all day if I would let her.

Pool Party!

Last week Jaedyn and Jantzen had their very first pool party for the summer. They had Avery, Dallin, and Rylee over for some cooling off fun, and I had Savannah and Lara over for some much needed adult conversations...and of course, to cool off in the pool too!

The kids got to enjoy the pool, a slip 'n slide, and a kiddie pool. I first set Jaedyn down with Rylee on the slip 'n slide, but as you can see, she hated it! I then put her in the kiddie pool and she didn't like that very much either! I think it's because the water was really cold, so being the nice mom I am, I added some hot water to make it warm...then Jaedyn loved it!




Jantzen and Dallin enjoyed playing in the big pool, the water was a perfect 84 degrees...it was nice! They were little fish all afternoon.


The little girls enjoyed playing in the kiddie pool, while us big girls enjoyed fun conversations. This is where Jaedyn stayed for most of the afternoon. She was having fun playing with pool toys, her Binky, and her friends. I just love the smiles she was giving me...so cute!





After swimming for a little while, we then enjoyed some pizza and lemonade, it was yummy!


While most of us were eating pizza, Jaedyn was just hanging out in the pool. She was having so much fun, I didn't want to bug her. Eventually I did, and I let her have some pizza with the rest of us...she loved it!


After lunch all of us, even us moms, got in the pool to cool off. The water was so nice, we didn't want to get out. Jaedyn really loved her new floatie we got her. She also loves the dive sticks we got for the boys. All she did in the pool was chew on them, she wouldn't let them go. If one of them started to slip off her floatie, she was quick to get it back before it fell in the pool.



When we were all done swimming, we got to enjoy Popsicles, otter pops, ice cream sandwiches, and ice cream bars. I think Jaedyn enjoyed the ice cream bar more than anything else all day. She was going to town on it! you can tell how much she enjoyed it by her face, she's just so stinkin' cute, even with ice cream all over her face.



The kids and I had a really great time with our friends and the pool and we can't wait to do it again.

"Memorial Day" Weekend...The End

After we left Arizona, we decided to stop by grandma and grandpa Goddard's house so the kids could see all of their cousins. The boys enjoyed home made oreo's and had fun playing with the big kids outside while Jaedyn hung out with Caleb and the adults inside.

Here's Jaedyn and Caleb, I don't know what they were looking at and I can't believe I forgot Jaedyn's hair bow! Oh well, she's still cute without it.


It was hard, but we were able to get a couple pictures with all the cousins together, minus one...AJ wasn't there. I think Jaron and Jantzen had fun playing with all of them since they don't get to see them very often anymore.



After visiting and playing for a little while, we headed home. All the kids fell asleep on the way home. They played a lot this weekend and wore themselves out. When we got home this is how I caught them sleeping. I thought it was so cute that Jaron and Jantzen were using Jaedyn's car seat as a pillow and in turn, Jaedyn had her feet in their faces. I think the way she sleeps is so funny! Normally if Jantzen sleeps on her seat like this, she'll kick his head and pull his hair, but I guess she was too tired this time.



On Memorial Day, the boys decided they wanted to swim for the first time in our new pool. The water was too cold for Jaedyn, so she sat out and chilled under the canopy, watching her brothers play in the pool.




The boys didn't care that the water was too cold. I thought after all the swimming they did this weekend that they'd be sick of it, but they weren't. I can already tell they are going to be little fish all summer.

Here's Jantzen smiling cute for me while Jaron is diving and doing circles in the water.



Here, Jantzen is in "his restaurant". He goes under the ladder and asks you what food you want, prepares it for you, and then serves it to you. You can have anything you want, he says...so fun!


Overall, we had a very busy, but fun Memorial weekend. It was nice to get together with good friends that we don't get to see very often and enjoy some fun things together. I hope we can do it again soon.

"Memorial Day" Weekend...Part 3

We decided to go back to Lake Powell the next day and enjoy some more fun in the water. This time we went to "Antelope Point" Marina. We parked our cars and then got to ride in a golf cart type vehicle down a ramp to the marina on the lake. Here, there was a fun swimming place for the kids. It was a multi leveled platform that opened up to the rest of the lake (where it opens up, it's 400 feet deep). The kids, including Josh and Spencer, thought it was pretty cool.

At first, Jaron didn't want to get in because he said it was too cold, but that quickly changed because it was hot outside, and because Jantzen started splashing him. Josh got in on some of the splashing fun too, but not for very long because he didn't have his swim suit on.

Here's Jaron, Jantzen, and Zeben having fun splashing each other. There was three different levels on that platform that each got a little deeper. Jantzen was the only one brave enough to go in the deepest one (below), it only came up to his chest, but Jaron still wouldn't get in it.

While Jantzen was swimming, he was telling me a story all about a shark. He said, "The shark ate my body, so I'm only a head, but then it spit out my body, so now I'm a full human again." He then preceeded to tell me another story about a boy and a shark. I didn't catch all of it because he was talking so fast and the story went on for a really long time, it was cute though.



The water was still too cold for Jaedyn's taste, so we decided to let her sit out again, but she had fun hanging out with mom and dad and getting in a little nap.

I just love her face in the picture with Josh, I don't know what she was doing.



After the kids swam for a while, we went to eat lunch at the restaurant on the marina. We enjoyed pizza and pink lemonade, it was good. When we were leaving, the kids noticed a bunch of huge fish gathered by the restaurant. Austyn decided to feed them some of her pizza, which they seemed to enjoy. The kids all thought the fish were cool because they were so big. I think Jaedyn was just trying to figure out what they were.




The kids wanted to swim some more before we left, so we let them. This time Zeben decided to be brave and he jumped off the ledge of the platform in to the deep water, with Spencer after he chickened out at the edge. When Jantzen saw this, he wanted to do it too, so we put Zeben's life jacket on him and let him go.

As you can see in the video, Jantzen chickened out too and wanted Spencer to also help him jump in, so he did. If you watch closely, you can see at the very last second Jantzen hesitates to jump, but Spencer takes him in with him anyway.

After he did that, Jantzen thought it was a lot of fun. He had to show me his big, strong muscles. We all tried to convince Jaron to jump off, but he wouldn't.


Much to our kids' disappointment, we had to leave so we could get home at a decent time that night. They weren't very happy about it, but we told them we would come back again, hopefully with some wave runners next time so we can go out on the water.

Here's Jaedyn, enjoying a ride on a cart again back up to our car. She was so happy all weekend, what a perfect little girl!


We got back to camp and started packing everything up. While Josh and I were packing, this is what the boys were doing...playing on Josh's dirt bike. Jantzen can't wait to get his own bike, he loves them! It was cute to watch them play because Jantzen was making all the noises like a bike while he was sitting on it.



It didn't take very long to get everything packed up, so we were on our way home quickly. The boys were sad to leave, but we had a great time camping with good friends and we'll do it again.