Playing in the snow!

Yeah, we finally got snow on a day that the boys could go out and play in it.  And hopefully this means we will be having a white Christmas.  The boys were so excited to play in the snow today and it was Zayne's first experience with it.  He did pretty well, especially for not really being able to move.  If I kept a path cleared low enough for him to walk in it he was fine.  But if he fell down at all, well lets just say he rolled around a lot until someone helped him up. 
The boys made some pretty interesting snow men all by themselves while I finished shoveling the walks.  Then we made a big sledding hill which they enjoyed.  They even put a bump in it to go over.
What a great time they had.

The boys also had their Christmas concerts this week.  Cyrus preformed well and we were very proud of him.  He showed great courage and sang every song with actions.  Quentin also sang his song at school and he had his piano recital this week which he did well at.  I didn't get pictures of that since we weren't allowed.  But he is getting so good at playing the piano and it has been fun  having him play Christmas songs every day.  We also had the opportunity to go on a Christmas light boat ride Monday which was really fun and we went to the Forever Plaid play at the Scera on Thursday.  Both in thanks to Justin's parents for taking us.  It has been a fun and busy week and we can't wait for this weekend.

playing in the leaves

Okay, Okay, so I'm a bit late in getting these up.  But we've been a bit busy dealing with sickness.  We had a lot of fun cleaning-up and playing in the leaves.  More fun playing then cleaning-up for sure. Unfortunately Cyrus seems to be the only one who knows how to look at the camera and smile though. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

We had a great Thanksgiving at our home as well.  Justin's parents home is under some major remodeling construction.  So we offered our home to their family instead.  All of his brothers were here as well as his sister Jena and his parents.  Great Aunt JoAnn and Sheila joined us as well.  We ate lots, played Rock Band and many other Wii games, did puzzles, and played other board/dice games.  A couple of people napped as well, but not much sleep down time was offered.  I believe fun was had by all.  It was a great day. Thanks to everyone who joined us.  I will have pictures of us rocking out up soon.  Even Grandpa got into the singing.

Snow Canyon 1/2 Marathon

Well, Camille and I finally had our 1/2 marathon come and go and I'm sad and glad it is over with.  Sad, because I will miss running with Camille as often and miss our talks together.  But glad because it took a lot of work and time to train for it that I really didn't have.  Camille, Andrea, my mom, and I all went down Friday afternoon to Saint George for the weekend.  Then Camille and I ran Saturday morning while the others waited patiently to cheer us across the finish line.  I had completely forgotten my camera, but luckily the rest of the family did much better then I, so here are some of their pictures they took.  Unfortunately the first 6 miles were all down hill and they killed us with the rest being much more up hill then I would have liked.  However, we were both able to finish the race and that was a huge accomplishment for me. We were able to run the race in just over 2 hours, which is a pretty good pace for me.  I am definitely not a fast runner.  I can't say that another race is in my near future, but it was a good fun experience.  It's just to bad with all of that hard work, I wasn't able to loose much more weight.  That would have been a nice perk. 

Just finished the race

running to the finish line

All cleaned up with our shirts and medals

 
Saturday after the race, we met up with Brian and Audrey and family.  We ended up eating at Brick Oven with yet another bad waiter experience and then shopped the outlet malls.  It was so great to see them and visit with them and it was nice to walk around and stretch before we hit the road again.  Unfortunately the trip home was still long enough to cause us all to get a bit tired and sore.

Us girls at Brick Oven

I had a really fun weekend with my sisters and mom and am hoping that maybe we could do this again next year without all the running.   Just a more relaxed weekend.  We'll see.  Thanks to everyone for your support.

Halloween 2010

Ok, so I'm a little late in getting these out.  But at least I got some pictures taken this year.  We had a lot of fun with Justin's parents coming for dinner and walking the blocks with us.  Our ward also did a halloween haunted house and trunk-or-treat, which I know the boys enjoyed.  They just wished there was more fun stuff to do.  Maybe next year.  Justin's parents also helped us carve and paint pumpkins.  What a fun day. 

Zayne was not a big fan of putting the paint on his hands to paint with.  But eventually he started getting the hang of it.  In fact he quickly realized that paint was not very tasty or fun to eat. 

Cyrus really got into the sponge stamping part of painting his pumpkin.  He did a really good job.

Zayne tried to wipe off his pumpkin and clean it with a paper towel.

Cyrus pre-drew his face on his pumpkin before he and his dad carved it.  He did not want to clean the pumpkin out.

Quentin and his Grandpa Hemingway carved this pumpkin together.  They had a lot of fun.  Quentin would not clean out the pumpkin as well.  All of these pumpkins came from our garden.  The boys did a great job in planting them.

Quentin was Aang from the last airbender cartoon shows.  I could not find a costume any where and had to make this one myself.  It took a lot of creativity and re-cutting and sewing after many times of trying it on to see how it looked.  No we did not shave Quentin's head.  It is a bald cap with the arrow painted on. He was very proud to wear this.

Cyrus really wanted to be Darth Vadar as you can see.  He was so happy to wear this costume and had to tell everyone who he was. 

Zayne was a puppy.  The costume was quite big, but it still turned out cute.  Zayne's favorite thing to do is chase after his brothers being a dog.  He has the panting down well and occasionally you'll get him to bark. 

WE had a fun Halloween and have started some little traditions this year that I think we will try and continue on every year.  What a great weekend, even with the rain.  It stopped just as we headed out the door and we were able to stay dry. 

Pictures

So we got some new updated photos of the boys.  I didn't have time to get Quentin's school picture scanned in, but here is a cute one of him outside our home. 

Quentin on the trampoline.  It's been really hard to get an actual smile out of him lately.

Cyrus also on the trampoline.  What a cutey.

Zayne in the trees with his brothers.  He only sat and smiled for one picture.  So I'll take what I can get.

This family photo was taken at Justin's parents home by a professional photographer after a half hour of big group family photos.  So as you can tell, they are pictured out.  I'm not really a fan of the way it turned out, but who can argue over a free photo.  It was also taken at dinner time, so the kids were not to cooperative. 

Life

We have been really busy and having a lot of fun the past month or so.  School has started and the boys are loving it.  Quentin is now in 2nd grade and enjoying all of his friends and time learning with his new teacher.  He started out a bit board, but is loving going now.  We have moved him into his own room and he really feels like a big boy.  Cyrus had a rough start with preschool with the whole separation thing.  But after 2 weeks of crying he now loves to go and begs to go every day.  He has made some great friends and great crafts and is excelling well.  Zayne is enjoying staying home with me and running errands, playing, and anything else that comes our way.  It has been a lot of fun spending time with him and gets challenging at times as well.

Quentin has started soccer again, so Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings are spent watching him.  He is doing so well and has improved so much.  It's weird to see him running and getting the ball and scoring the goals.  He used to spend most of his time guarding the goals, but not any more. 

Here are some random pictures we have taken lately.

My 3 boys getting ready to watch Quentin play soccer

Quentin in his soccer attire

The boys coloring a giant puzzle they just put together.  Zayne's new favorite position is laying on his belly to do stuff.

Displaying their alligator hats.  Cyrus was supposed to make this at preschool and never got to.  So all the boys made them and liked wearing them.  I couldn't get the picture of all 3 boys up.  Maybe next time. 

Swimming and YW

We have taken the boys swimming a lot this summer with their cousins and here are a few pictures of each of the.  First we have Quentin sporting his goggles.  He has really mastered his swimming this year.

 Now we have Cyrus just finishing his cannon ball, one of his favorite things to do

Zayne is in his little boat.  He really enjoys the water.  Especially dropping things and watching everyone dive for them.

I also had the opportunity to go up to girls camp with our ward and spend the whole week with the girls. It was a lot of fun and work.  Here is the whole group just before we left the church.

Here are all of the girls under our rainbow that we just finished making.  Our theme was the Wizard of Oz.  The girls are sitting on the yellow brick road.

Here are the 4 brave leaders who stuck it out all week.

These are our neon stick figure dancers.  Our 4 YCL's this year dressed in black and hooked glow sticks to their bodies.  Then they put together a dance to a couple of songs and preformed for us.  It was really cool.  We will be doing this with all of our YW in a couple of weeks for an activity.

After camp we took the girls boating.  Yep that is me near the back of the water weeny.  The girls weren't going to let me get out of getting on that and getting wet.  I definitely got tipped a few times.

We have had a lot of fun this summer and  will miss the time we have been able to spend together.  However, I know the boys are more then excited to get back into school.  Cyrus starts preschool this year and is excited to meet his teacher.  I'm not sure what I will do with Zayne for the 2 and a half hours while Cyrus is gone, but we'll have fun.
Girls Camp was a blast and I would definitely do it again if given the opportunity.  I missed the boys and Justin and thought about them often, but I also kept really busy which made for a quick time apart.

Where did July go?

So we have been quite busy this month and I can't believe it is about over. 

The boys and I have been swimming about twice a week at grandma's pool with the cousins and to the movies every Tuesday.  Unfortunately I keep forgetting the camera every time we head out to these things.  One of these days I will get some pictures.  We have also been busy with going to the Library weekly so the boys can get their rewards for reading and pick out some new books. 

On top of all of this we have spent a  lot of time with cousins, going to the museums and Zoo, and anything else that comes our way. 


I just got back from spending a week at girls camp and thoroughly enjoyed being with the girls.  It was a great bonding experience and a great opportunity to come out of my shell.  I"m sure I will have some black mailing pictures up soon on facebook.  I took some disposable camera's with me.  So it will be a week or so before I get pictures up from that.  Justin took the week off to be with the boys so that I could go to camp and not worry.  What a great husband he is. 

Here are a few pictures of the boys being cute and seeing some floats at the Mall with Justin while I was at camp.