The Official Start to Summer

Every Memorial Day we head to The Land to officially kick off summer. This year we didn't know if we would be able to go. Long story short: Caden had Fifth's Disease. It is a sickness that most kids get when they are little. He had a fever for a few days and then it turned into a rash. The doctor diagnosed it over the phone and said once the rash showed up he was no longer contagious. No big deal right? Well, while it is not a big deal for most people, it is bad for pregnant people...nope, I'm not pregnant, but Tracy is. Tracy went to have a blood test to see if she was immune, but we didn't think the test results would come back in time. We were literally left hanging until hours before when Tracy called and said she was immune! Huge relief!!! We had to hurry and pack, and then we were off. 

Makayla was so excited when we started packing her stuff. She saw her hat and coat and wanted to wear it right then. She also made sure to pack her necessities... You know, her purse and baby. 

What? Doesn't everyone wear a winter coat and hat to kick off summer? 

We thought if we left at bed time the kids would sleep the whole way up there. The plan backfired on us because Kayla didn't sleep and threw up about a half hour into the ride. Our poor little girl gets so car sick!

Once we finally made it up to The Land we had so much fun. 

. We took the kids on a bunch of 4 wheeler rides

Then all the big kids went on a really long ride. We tried to go up to the lake, but there was too much snow blocking our path. 

The kids played on the swings. 

All the kids LOVED this race track. Caden would run around in circles trying to catch the cars. 

Kayla accidently put one of the cars by her head and the wheels caught her hair. She ended up pulling out a huge chunk of her hair before we could get the scissors to cut it out. 

We got lots of snuggle time in with this handsome little boy!!

And this cutie little girl. She is practicing good hygiene by brushing the bear's teeth

Grandpa was in seventh heaven with the kids. They had so much fun playing together. They went on walks together to feed the horses, and see the pigs and billy goats. 

Then at night we got to sit around the campfire and sing songs and talk. 

It really wasn't that cold, but Kayla likes to be all snuggled. 

Even though I still have three weeks left before I am officially done with work, I feel like summer is finally here and we can't wait to get our flip-flop summer rollin'!!

Collard's 80th Birthday

On May 15th (or 16th... Grandpa Collard isn't for sure on the actual day he was born) Collard turned 80 years old! He is getting really fussy in his old age and doesn't like any gifts, so we have to be creative with any gift we give him or else he will give it back and tell us to take it back to the store (no joke, he made Tracy take back the pajamas she gave him for Christmas!) Tammy and Terry came up with a great idea to get him a night at the Little America Hotel and we could all go to dinner as a family and have a little surprise party in the room.

 We decorated the room then hid and waited for them to arrive.

 The kids and I hid behind the bed.

 When he finally came in the room, he was pretty shocked, but excited.

 Before we went to dinner, Tracy made a pretty big announcement... She's preggo!! We are all so excited for Baby Jones due in October!!!

We went to dinner at the Little America cafe... yum!!

Then we came back up to the room and spent forever taking pictures. Here's the whole gang minus Jeremy who is taking the picture. 

Collard with his kids...

Collard with the kids and in-laws

Collard with his grand-kids. P.S. Doesn't it look like Tyler and Tracy are holding hands behind his back? Awww... cute! :)

And just so the in-laws wouldn't feel left out, we got a picture with us in there too. Not sure why Colton thinks he is an in-law!

And finally Collard with the great grandkids. 

After all those pictures, my kiddos were d.o.n.e

 We sang happy birthday and had cake.

 Carson obviously enjoyed his cake

 Grandpa Collard did mention that he thought the party was missing a streaker, so Makayla took it upon herself to fix that.

I can't wait to show her dates these pictures someday!

Happy Birthday Collard!!!

Mother's Day 2013

My Mother's day post is going to be short and sweet this year. I love being a mom. It's what I have always dreamed of. I have the cutest kids, an amazing husband, and the best life I could have ever dreamed of. I'm not perfect; I get mad and frustrated at my kids, but I'm learning patience along the way. Being a mom is the best and the most challenging experience, but I love it all the same. 

We spent the morning at breakfast with Tyler's family, then went to a party for my mom at Meg's house. Later that night, the kids and Tyler spoiled me with a cute card, perfume, a necklace, and a gift card. 

Yep, I'm one lucky girl!

May's Friday Family Dates

We have had some fun Friday Family Dates this month. In early May I found out that because I'm a teacher, I get into Thanksgiving Point for free (I knew there were more benefits to being a teacher than only working 180 days a year). I really wanted to take the kids to the tulip festival, so we went on the last day it was running. 

We started off our night at our favorite family restaurant, can you guess which one? We only eat there every month. It was the weekend of Cinco de Mayo, so Makayla was really into all the festivities. 

 Then we headed to the festival. Kayla loved the waterfall, but Caden was a little scared of it.

 Our little guy was in the middle of one of his many sicknesses this month, so we got a lot of snuggle time in.

 The tulip festival was so pretty. Kayla kept running around screaming, "Look, nother flower!" and "so bu-tiful".

 I love my three cute kids. Since "Baby" goes with us everywhere we go, I figured she should be considered one of my children too.

 Can this little guy get any cuter? I think not.

 Or this little cutie. I could just eat her, she is so cute!

Then last week we took the kids to the Living Planet Aquarium. The kids loved it, but Tyler and I were pretty grossed out at all the animals, especially the octopus. I have never seen something so disgusting in all my life. Ugghh... it gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

We got to see a lot of different kinds of fish, penguins, otters, sharks, turtles, snakes, and sting rays.  My favorite part of the day was when we looked at the python and Kayla started saying, "ewww... gross! That's gross, Mommy!" I think she had heard us saying that way too much during the day.

 Makayla was too busy trying to find Nemo and Dori, so she wouldn't turn around to smile for our picture.

And Caden was just plain done and didn't want to be held

But don't Tyler and I look great? We're the only ones who know how to look at the camera. 

We finally managed to get everyone to look happy in the shark skeleton mouth. 

Kayla and Daddy got to get an up close look at the otters in the little cave. 

 Then they had fun crawling though the "reef"

 

Yep, life is good with my cute family!