Soooooo close......

Can you see the despair in those little boys faces. They played their very best!!!!
Tyler receiving his 2nd place pin and I am sure the whole time he was thinking this should've been a 1st place pin. Good learning experiences!
This little team should be so proud! Their ranking at the first of the season was last place and they played so hard all season that they ended up making it into the championship game. We really thought this was going to be a huge blowout for the other team, which was undefeated, but not so. These boys never gave up. It ended in a tie game so they played another five minutes and still a tie. Finally, it went down to a sudden death shoot out. Five kids from each team took their best shots and we finally lost. Look how dark it was. It was the longest most intense game!  I guess someone has to always loose, too bad it was us!  So sad.:)

A few of my favorite fall things....

Although it feels like winter lately, I am still hanging onto Fall. Some of the great things about fall:

1. Fall football!! I love watching football games. I am sure this is probably because I grew up watching them. I have so many great memories of going to football games. I remember going to all of the high school games with friends and thinking we would die if we ever missed one. I remember going with friends to BYU games and laughing at all the crazy fans. Then, after Brent and I were married we lived for Friday nights to come so we could go and watch my brothers play high school football. Those were all such great memories. This fall it has been even more fun watching Tyler play football. He has really loved playing and is becoming quite the good little football player. I know, I am is mother!!

A couple of weeks ago, Grandpa Adams took us to a BYU game and we had lots of fun. So of course I have to give a shout out for BYU. My brother and I claim we are the favorites because we are the only 2 out of 6 of my siblings that graduated from BYU and followed in mom and dad's footsteps. I am sure my other siblings might say something different! Whatever the reason I just have to say, Go Cougs!! Enough about football.






2. Another one of my favorite things about fall is walking into my parents home every October conference weekend and seeing my mom make yummy grape juice from the grapes in her backyard. So this year Sydney and I decided to join in and we had lots of fun. It is easier than it looks and I was encourage to think that maybe I could actually do this on my own one day.

3. I also love taking walks in the canyon when the leaves are changing. So last week, after conference, we took our kids up Hobble Creek canyon and they rode their backs down the trail. It was so beautiful!! Forgot the camera, bummer.

4. Last, I always love to listen to general conference, it seems to help me remember what's really important in life. I loved President Monson's talk entitled Finding Joy in the Journey. It really hit home and once again reminded me of the importance of being a mother, which some days, I tend to often forget!! I always feel re-dedicated and it leaves me with great hope to be a better mom and enjoy these little moments.

**The only thing I really don't love about fall is that means winter is coming. I could really live without winter but I will somehow try to find joy in that journey as well!!

Two blog worthy events

First big event! Last week my baby turned 3!! I know he is not such a baby anymore but he still seems that way to me. Can I tell you how much I love 3 year old birthdays? There are no expectations, no asking for huge presents, no planning gigantic birthday parties, just the simple little things. He loved every little toy we got him. His favorite presents were from Tyler and Sydney. They each gave him something of theirs. Tyler gave him his Flash wristband and McKay has been wearing it ever since! I think that was his favorite thing! Sydney wrapped up one of her old dolls, I am not sure he really loved that but it was sure thoughtful of Syd. We had cake and ice cream at the Jones home and celebrated McKay and Brooke's (cousin) birthdays together! I really am still in denial that he is already 3, but he is such a sweetheart, he is kind of the center of attention around here. He keeps us laughing a lot. He tells it like it is and sometimes that might not be such a good thing. For instance, he was playing at the neighbors house the other day and this is how the conversation went: they were talking about dads for some reason?

Neighbors mom: "Mckay, where is your dad or what is he doing, is he at work?" Something to that effect.
Mckay's response: "He is at home right now farting."

My neighbor didn't quite know what to say to that response, she thought maybe she misunderstood him, so she asked again and she said it sounded pretty straight forward. What a character, I am not quite sure where that came from but that's our little birthday boy!! We couldn't imagine life without this little guy. He keeps us on our toes and gives us comic relief daily.

Onto our next big event--We finally see grass growing in our yard! As many of you know, we have been putting our yard in and it seems like it has taken an eternity! Yes, we have learned lots, mostly in patience, forgiveness and humility! Yes, Brent did an amazing job, considering he really had no idea what he was doing in the beginning!! Yes, it has turned out beautiful! Yes, we have saved lots of money, but spent a lot as well! And Yes, we are still married! No, we will never do this again!! I repeat myself, hopefully we will never do this again!! Thanks to the family for all their hard work. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Here are some pictures for pure entertainment. I will say, I think the guys had fun driving the bobcat, backhoe, etc. and acting like they knew what ther were doing but I don't think anyone enjoyed digging trenches and shoveling what seemed like a million wheelbarrows of dirt.:) I am so thrilled this project is coming to an end, at least until spring right?!? There is always another project to be done!



Do you see the little green fuzz, yup that's grass!!


Happy Fall to all!

Another summer comes to an end!!

I know we are in the middle of September but I think I am in denial that our care free summer days are completely over!! We had such a fun summer and one day I might sit down and actually blog about it, but it probably won't happen!! So I thought I would at least post some pictures of my kids on their first day of school, I am always behind!!

Tyler started third grade and was very excited to get a guy teacher who he heard was very cool, we will see.

I could barely get Tyler to hold still for one picture, therefore here is the one and only picture!

Sydney finally started Kindergarten and could hardly stand waiting the extra week after Tyler's schoool started. She loves it and goes with lots of kids in the neighborhood. We live really close to the school so the kids walk to and from school.






McKay thinks he is in school as well because a few moms in the neighborhood take turns once a week taking the kids and doing activities etc. with them. It is good for him to be with little kids his age instead of living in a grown-up kid world of Hannah Montana/Super Mario Smash Brothers or whatever it is called. He thinks he is way older than he really is.:) For heaven sakes he is barely old enough to be potty trained, Yes we conquered it. He is officially potty trained! No kids in diapers, wow!


Now that summer is over I am sure there will be something else that I will use for an excuse when it comes to lack of blogging!

The 4th of July

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays if not my very favorite!! I love getting up early and going to the balloons (although this year we didn't quite make it, stayed up too late the night before doing fireworks), watching the parade, having BBQ's, swimming, doing fireworks. I love it all!! We had lots of fun this year! We were able to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Adams and just relax! Hope you all enjoyed the 4th!!


This face is so McKay.



Dad and Ty at the parade.

Sydney posing, what she does best.


Honestly Tyler, so gross!! Other favorite Uncle Mark.

2 Uncles at the same place, I guess we were at the cool place for fireworks.

Annual 4th of July family photo. :)

SPARKLERS!

At Grandpa and Grandma's.

The good old parade.

Summer Fun!!

Becca and Sydney lived in their swim suits.

  Jacob and McKay have a love/hate relationship.

Uncle Brady is the favorite.

McKay chilling with the girls.

A little too much fun at the lake.

Grandpa D. was always out in the lake with the kids.:)

Where does the time go??? Well a re-cap of the month of June. It seems like we were practically gone the entire month. We started with the kids swimming lessons. We are very happy to say, that with lots of tears and much drama, Sydney officially has conquered her fear of putting her head under the water. Actually by the end she was jumping off the diving board. This is HUGE if you know Sydney! :) My boys love the water so this was quite the event that I wasn't used to.

Next we had the Duncan Reunion. We had lots of fun boating and playing with cousins down south. My sis, Jen, and I also ran a 10K in the summer games and we had fun cheering for Todd and Brady when they did their triathalon. Watching it made me really want to do a triathalon, can someone please teach me how to swim, that part looks really tough!! I feel so lucky to have such great extended family who we really love to be with and have so much fun together! We missed two of my brothers and their families, we love you Paul and Clint and fams!!

June came to an end with a surprise. I ended up running the Wasatch Back Relay, something I have always wanted to do and probably never would have, but my neighbor knocked on my door at 10:30 the night before and said someone had dropped out last minute on their team and they needed someone to run. I am not sure what possessed me to say yes but I did and we had so much fun, I really want to do it again next year. I have lived in Utah all my life and I have never seen so much beauty. The scenery was amazing!! I was so sad I didn't have my camera.
As soon as I get some pics of this race, I will post them. I am sure I looked wasted in most of them seeing as I think I got a couple of hours of sleep over the 2 days.

Needless to say we are having a fun-filled summer and I can't believe it is already half over. I am not going to think about it yet and just enjoy the rest of our playing days.

Newport Beach

We have been home now for several weeks but I had to write about what a great time we had in Newport Beach. Brent's family rents a beach house every year right on the beach and we absolutely love every minute of it. Some highlights of the trip include:

-Playing in the sand and boogie boarding. My kids couldn't get enough of the beach!!
-Going to see the Newport temple, it was so beautiful.
-Putting kids to bed and playing games with the adults.
-Running on the boardwalk, it was perfect weather.
-Our little boat ride around balboa island. The kids driving the boat with Grandpa Adams.
-Squeezing in a day at Disneyland with the Hawkins cousins. Watching McKay's face light up every time he saw Mickey Mouse.
-Enjoying sitting on the deck and watching the sunsets while listening to the waves of the ocean. So beautiful, I was in my happy place.
-Spending time in Las Vegas with the Hawkins family.
-Just enjoying time with the Adams family since we don't see them as often as we would like.


Thanks Grandpa and Grandma A.!!

Here are a few pictures from our trip.



**Now back to real life and finishing the sprinklers so we can get our yard in. I am starting to wonder if the yard is ever going to come together. Every time we plan a big yard day the weather doesn't cooperate. Oh-well that's life, wish us luck!! :)

"I like Tyler" /Sydney's graduation

It's Mckay's new favorite line...."I like Tyler." Yes he does like Tyler but this actually translates to McKay wanting to do everything like Tyler these days. Every time Tyler puts on his under armor shirt, for soccer, McKay then goes and gets his swimmer shirt that he thinks is an under armor shirt. He follows these kids everywhere and thinks he can do everything they can do. His latest is getting on Tyler's powerwheel when nobody is watching and he is a crazy man on it. I will admit he is pretty good on it but I think my neighbors might think I am one of those moms who let their children in the road and allows them to be unsupervised way too much!! I think he might drive the other kids crazy when they are playing the wii because of course Mckay thinks he needs to play tennis, soccer or any of the above. Tyler and Sydney are really great siblings to McKay. We really get a laugh out of our little McKay, although I am realizing he is not so little anymore. (so sad)!!

The other night Tyler decided he wanted a buzz, he did need a haircut but I wasn't quite ready for the summer buzz yet, but of course Tyler talked Brent into giving him one so next thing you know McKay comes walking out with a buzz as well, talk about traumatizing, I am now used to my little scalped boys and I figure the maintenance is great!!:)
Here are some pics of Tyler and his sweet tag along little brother Mckay.




The BYU boys!!

My scalped boys!!!

And here is our preschool graduate:

My little Sydney is officially done with preschool and she is very ready to start Kindergarten after  going to 2 years of preschool. It has been so fun being able to have some alone time with Sydney. When she would come home from school McKay would be asleep and we would just talk or read together or play. I have really enjoyed being able to spend this time with her. Sydney has always been so good to entertain herself so at times I  sometimes feel guilty  and think I don't spending enough time with my middle child (maybe this stems from me being a middle child) :) so it has really been great for us to have this time together. McKay has also loved having her home with him to play. Here are some pictures of her.

Syd and the pig!!  Syd would love to actually live on a farm.

Sydney and her cousin Becca

Practicing the lip pose!:) We've both done better!

***Why is May so crazy busy, anyone else feeling it???