JoeJoe cracks me up!

JoeJoe has been potty trained for a year now...with a few accidents here and there. Kayla was a piece of cake to potty train! JoeJoe not so much. We did, however, find the one thing that motivates him to stay dry...XBox360. If he wets then he can't play. Well, he has this Indiana Jones game that he already beat and so he wants the second Indiana Jones game. I told him if he stays dry for 30 days (including night - I know, I am a mean mom because I don't believe in pull-ups) then he can have it. Well he was on a roll and was already at 21 days so I bought the game as an extra incentive. He didn't last. So the game sits on our counter and waits. Today he was just standing there staring at the game and he very casually says to me, "Indiana wants me to play him". My reply was "You tell Indiana that you haven't stayed dry so he's going to have to wait."

Something else that made me laugh today... Joe Joe got some silly putty in his Easter basket. Today he comes to me and asks "Where's my funny stuff?"

VACATION!! Need I say more?

We took an awesome trip down to St. George over Spring Break! It was the most relaxing trip I have taken in years! We went with some awesome friends, that happen to live a couple doors down from us, the Lloyds. I realize more and more each vacation that I truly prefer hotels over camping. I mean, who wouldn't PREFER to have a comfortable bed, hot shower, swimming pool, continental breakfast, cable TV...all over a sleeping bag on the ground (even if you do have a mat underneath), a tent that hopefully keeps the bugs out, the night sounds keeping you awake, the heat or the cold - take your pick. Either way, hotels are the way to go.

Here are just a few of many pictures we took. It was so hard to choose which ones to show. We did some hiking up Snow Canyon. We first took a little hike to some of the Lava Caves.

 McKenzie, JoeJoe, Joe and Kayla in one of the Lava Caves.

It was so cold that day. It was in the upper 60's but it was so windy it was freezing! We cut the hiking short this day. Kayla, JoeJoe and Mom.

Our swimming pictures don't do us justice. We swam twice a day for 3 days. The kids couldn't get enough of the swimming. Plus after the first day we went and bought the kids goggles which they absolutely loved.

 Kayla had a huge milestone! She learned to swim without her arm floaties. She could swim across the pool without help. She also learned to dive down to the bottom of the pool and get a rock or a swimming ring.

JoeJoe was a regular old fish. Even though he wore that life jacket the whole time it didn't slow him down. He jumped in the pool probably 200 times. A few time he freaked us out because he would jump in and just lay on his stomach with his face in the water. Turns out he was checking out the pool with his new goggles. He'd quickly come up for air and cough out some water.

 Our second day of hiking was so much better! It was such a gorgeous day and not too cold. We went to the Petrified Dunes and hiked to the top of the giant dune. Here are the kiddos: McKenzie, Lexi, Brayden, JoeJoe and Kayla.

 Our cute little family! Yes we are Ute fans!

 Everyone except Kim - it was either her or I not in the picture so...
We had to take a picture with just us. :)
With the kids running around in the background...

And of course, the boys had to take a fun picture. Geez, I had no idea Scott was so strong!

JoeJoe turns 4!

This is my cute cute little boy! Or as Joe would say "I NOT LITTLE!" He has so much personality! It's very difficult for him to not make a face when taking pictures. This is his Ice Age 3 - Dawn of the Dinosaurs cake, which he picked out himself. He turned 4 on March 27th!

Picture with grandma and grandpa, also making a face. :)

And of course his favorite gift...Lego Batman for Xbox360. He already beat the Lego Indian Jones so he needed something else to play. What a cute kid! Love him!

Kayla turns SEVEN!

My little girl turned 7 on January 4th! Seven happens to be my favorite number! It's the one number I always play in roulette. She is my lucky girl, I am lucky to have her in my life.

Kayla had a birthday party for all her wonderful friends in the neighborhood. We decorated with balloons and had a huge cupcake pinata. She picked out a darling pink Barbie cake.

 Here's the group: JoeJoe, Sally, Susannah, Kayla, Ophelia, McKenzie, Bella and Keyli. They're out in the garage excitedly awaiting to attack the pinata.

Kayla blowing out her candles! One more year till she gets baptized. It's going way too fast!!

Break...Over

Ok, so I'm going to try posting again. I took a short break to figure out if I wanted to keep my blog or not. If you're reading, tell me...

Family Pictures 2011

It was that time again. It feels like it flies by every time. We finally had family pictures taken. We had my awesome cousin Summer take them. She did an amazing job. Not only are the pictures beautiful, she has this talent with the kids. She gets them to smile, laugh, play and help MacKayla with her "princess legs". The link to her blog "Summer Image" is on the right. Here are just a few of my favorites...

Kindergarten Zoo Day!

One of my favorite things about being a stay at home mom is that I am readily available to help out with MacKayla's class. I've been able to go on all of her field trips or help out with any activities that need parents. I love that I get to be a part of these fun activities with her. I'll admit though, going to the zoo with a bunch of kindergartners did not sound exciting. I, however, was given the best girls to be with. Raegan is on the left, Angie is in the middle and of course, Kayla is on the right. Such fun girls!

My little mover!

Here's just a little update on my little guy...Joe Joe is my mover! He wants to be doing something at every moment of the day. The only time he sits still is when he's watching one of his superhero cartoons. He can watch one after the other for hours...if I let him.

Joe Joe is potty training. He sometimes just doesn't care to go in the potty though.  Thank goodness he can't stand the thought of pooping in his pants because I can't stand the thought of having to clean it up. However, he takes FOREVER when he has to poop. I felt bad for the poor guy and gave him a book.

As I mentioned before, Joe loves superheros. He loves Hulk, Ironman, Spiderman, Fantastic Four...you name it, he loves it. We found this cute little get-up at Dollar Tree and had to put it on him. He looks so ferocious!

My parents have these awesome rolling hills at the church across the street from their house. I remember rolling down these same hills as a kid. Our kids seem to love them as much as I did. I like it now because it wears him out. Go down the hill, walk up the stairs, go down the hill, walk up the stairs. After 50 or so times we go home and crash in bed. :)

Kayla is a natural pianist!

MacKayla has been taking piano for 3 months now and three weeks ago she played her first song with her hands together. It was a "proud mom" moment. She is such a natural pianist and is very talented. I'm so proud of her!!

JoeJoe turns "free"

Our little guys turned three on March 27th. He is such an energetic, carefree kid. He loves to play and have fun and doesn't care about the important things in life. He was so excited to turn "free". We had my family over to help us celebrate with him.

His cousins thought he was so slow at opening his presents, a few of the presents got the help of many hands. Joe got lots of cars, especially "Cars" cars. He was more excited about the "Cars" cars than he was about his new bike. Go figure.

He picked out his own cake. It was a close running between "Cars", Spiderman and Thomas the Train. As it turns out, it was hands down "Cars". Plus he got two more "Cars" out of it.

We love you JoeJoe!