Vacation 2011

I thought I'd better get some of this year's vacation documented here or I'd never get it done...I'm slacking on the family blogging!:)

Caution:  Very long vacation post...read or just look at pictures or skip the entire thing...at your discretion!:)

Anyway, we had a wonderful vacation this year!  We started off at Grandpa and Grandma Miramontes' house for Tony's birthday!  We spent the 4th at the parade and then had Tony's birthday party and fireworks!

Grandpa with Anastasia, Kyla, & Tyler watching fireworks!

The Grandkids at the Parade: Back row: Anastasia, Eli, Bodey, Caleb, & Kyla

Front row: Rhett, Jaxon, Xavier, & Tyler 



Cousins...if Tony & I can make it work, so can they!:)



Tony's 35th Birthday Party...I think it was around 11:00 by the time we had his party...it was a long but wonderful day!!:)  He got some clothes, a headlamp, a new mitt, and Rockies tickets!

We also went up to the Payson Pool (a yearly tradition now...it's so much fun!!), and did some shopping and Tony & I were able to do a session at the Manti Temple...it had been WAY TOO LONG since we'd been back to the temple we were married in!!

We then headed down to the cabin to have our annual "Double K Retreat" with the Wilson clan!  I actually didn't even get the camera out once that weekend...I knew Mom would take care of that...now I just need to get copies of the pictures from her!:)  It was such good times...GAMES, GAMES, GAMES!!  Nothing better than that!

Next we headed to Parowan.  We went to the aquatic center in Cedar City and had a lot of fun (agian NO PICTURES...I really need to be better!).  And just had fun with Jared & Candy & family.  We had a pizza party with Candy's homemade pizza's...she's the queen...she make the best pizza's, and played more games!!

Friday, the 15th was my 15 year class reunion.  I ended up changing what we were doing because we only had a few people respond that they were coming.  So instead of having fun at the Lion's Park and having Cafe Rio cater, we just met at The Pizza Factory and ate and visited.  It was a lot of fun and we had some good laughs!! 

 The Gang (who showed up...there are a lot of classmates that still live in the area that didn't even bother to show up...I came all the way from Colorado, of course I got to set the date to fit my schedule!:))

 Left to right: Tanner Adams, Valerie Vincent Evans, Jake Hulet & wife Sandy, Mike Adams & wife LeeAnn

Krysten Ball Reynold & husband Whitney, Becky Crisp Merrill & husband...his name escapes me! oops!:)

We went to Cedar to watch Ben shoot up some pretty awesome rockets with Jamie and her kiddo's.  The rockets were amazing!  We then went to the St. George Temple with Jared & Candy to do a session.  When the session was over Jared checked his phone and had gotten a text from Dad  (who is in Kentucky with Mom taking care of Grandma Potter) that said that Uncle Russell had passed away.  We knew it was coming and that Dad would probably miss it, but he was able to visit with Russell earlier in the week before they left.  So glad for the gospel and the temple sealings!!!

After the Temple we ate at Five Guys and then went to Tai Pan (much to the boys' dismay...but I have to say they were troopers!).  I got some awesome stuff, I wish they had one here!! 

We went to church with Jamie & Ben the next morning and then spent the night with them so the kiddo's could play.  Jamie taught me how to make ebleskivers for breakfast monday morning...they were so much fun to make & were delicious.  As soon as I get me a pan I'm going to share that one on my blog!!:)

We were planning on heading home Monday morning, but decided to stick around a little longer so we could attend Uncle Russell's funeral.  And I'm so glad we did.  It was such a great service.  I know a lot of people don't like funerals, but I've always loved them...the spirit is so strong and the messages are so powerful!!  This funeral was no exception!  We had a little comic relief when I held Isaac...I'd had him for probably around a minute and Rhett was playing with him and he spewed all over Rhett!  Rhett's face was priceless...he was so disgusted!!  I was laughing so hard (without making any noise!:))

So since we were already around we decided we'd stay an extra weekend.  Jared planned a fun hike up on Brian Head for us.  It was the twisted forest trail, I believe.  It was pretty cool.  The pine that grows there is some of the oldest trees in the world and they only grow in certain climates and only over certain elevations, so it was a lot fun...we got some great pictures!!

 Caleb's a little monkey...he climbed pretty much every tree he found!:)

 Kyla with a pretty awesome lookin' tree!

 Here's the view from the top of our trail...looking right into Cedar Breaks!  And just so you know...just off that edge is a sheer drop off!!  I had Rhett's hand really tight because he kept wanting to go closer and look...scared me to death (and Elyse...haha!)!  But it was beautiful!

 Rhett posing!  What a photogenic little boy!

Tony with Rhett...two pretty handsome men!!

Eli...I was lucky to get this picture...that kid was all over the place!!  He really needed to get out!:)

Rhett, Kyla and cousin Kylynd.

Then that weekend we headed out to the cabin.  I absolutely LOVE that place...I wish we lived closer so we could use it more often!!  Lots of fun at the water slide, gaming with family, hiking, & 4-wheeler riding!!

Hiking Marble Mountain...Tony with the kiddo's!

Who is that stud of a man standing over there???:)

Looking down at the cabin & pond...this is only about the halfway point to where we hiked!  It was so beautiful!

Mom with Rhett & Kyla

 Tony & the boys...this is another one of those sheer drop edges...they sure made me nervous!

 Tony helping Rhett hike down...it was pretty steep & slippery

 Caleb

 Rhett

Kyla 

Eli

 THE WATER SLIDE...what a blast, and we had perfect weather for it!  Here's Kyla!

Caleb 

 Rhett...that kid absolutely LOVEd the slide...he looked scared to death everytime he went down, but just kept on going...from the very top no less!

 Eli's turn!

The kiddo's & a friend going down in Aunt Elyse's boat!

What a great trip...we love spending time with our family.  It's always hard to leave and we always want to stay longer, but life must go on...:)

Say No to Drugs!!

We got a letter in the mail a month ago or so telling us that Kyla had won an award for her poster she did in school for the So No to Drugs campaign.  They wanted to recognize everyone at a dinner that was held May 2nd (Monday).  Well, we had 3 things going on that night...so Tony took Rhett to Caleb's game and then Eli and I went with Kyla to this dinner (Kyla's softball practice just had to be missed...can't be 2 places at one time...although sometimes that would be really nice!!)

It was a very nice dinner and then they had the awards.  There were 280 something kids who turned in posters and Kyla was the only 5th grader to be recognized (I think there were about 10 in all)!!  She was very excited...but the most exciting part...the $25 they also gave everyone!!:)

 Pointing out which poster was Kyla's.

"Accepting" the award.

Here's her poster and her award!



It's Baseball time!!

Caleb started baseball the middle of April and had his first game last week.  He was able to pitch a couple of innings that first game and did a great job for it being his first time pitching!!  His second game he started pitching and did a great job...if I remember right his stats were:  1st inning: 3 stike outs, 2nd inning: 2 strike outs, 3rd inning: 1 strike out; and 4th inning: 1 strike out!  Pretty darn good! Here's a short video of him pitching:

Also I've got to tell you the sweetest thing!  So Caleb hit one of the batters and I hear his little voice call out "sorry!"  Never heard someone apologize for hitting someone on the field before...I thought it was sweet!:)  I actually got it on camera...if you listen closely you'll hear his litte "sorry" at the end!

During this game he also went 2 for 4 at bats.  He hit 2 pretty good grounders for base hits and then got walked twice.  Here's one of his grounders.

I love baseball season!!  Although it gets pretty busy when Kyla starts softball and Rhett is starting t-ball this year...we LOVE it!!

Another GIVEAWAY at our blog!

We're having another GIVEAWAY over at our blog.  We're celebrating a new look, new button, and a new facebook page!  Come on over and enter to win some cool stuff and to see a delicious recipe for Orange Dream Cupcakes!!

Rhett's 4th Birthday!

My baby boy (who does not like for me to refer to him as that!) turned 4 on Sunday!  I still can't believe it!  Honestly...where does the time go?  I remember about a month ago he looked like this:

And then a few weeks ago this:

And then yesterday...

OK...I'm killing myself here...let's get on to the birthday party!

He had a party with some of his friends on Friday before his birthday.  They had an Easter egg hunt and then cupcakes (leftover from my recital...check it out HERE at our recipe blog!) and presents.  He had a lot of fun and was very excited to have his own special birthday party with his friends!  I took my camera but forgot to take pictures of the hunt, but got some of the boys playing with one Rhett's toys he got. 

Rhett with Parker

Rhett with Ty, Deacon & Parker 

We decided to have his family birthday party on Saturday.  We'd been asking him what he wanted for his birthday for the last couple of weeks and his #1 answer was....and ipad!!!  Can you believe that?!  It totally cracked me up.  He was able to play angry birds on our good friend Nancy's ipad and now whenever he sees her he asks her if she has it so he can play!  Sorry, little man but no ipad this year!!:)  But his #2 answer was a bike, so we ventured on down to Montrose to see what we could find for him.  He was so excited...this is the bike he picked out!

We then came home to make a cake and wrap presents so we could have a party for him. Well, in the meantime he fell asleep and when we tried to wake him up for dinner he was not having it. He was out cold and if we bugged him enough he'd start crying and get mad, so we decided to let him sleep through dinner. Well, after dinner it was the same thing...he was worn out!! So we decided we'd put him to bed and have his party on Sunday. Well, he woke up at about 9:00 and came and asked if we could have his party. I told him it was too late and that we could have it tomorrow on his birthday, but that didn't make him all too happy so I gave in and we had my little boy's 4th birthday party at 9:00!! I know...Mother of the year award!:) Anyway, here's pictures from the party! Sorry the pictures are so dark...it was 9:00 you know!

Our 4 year old!

 Rhett had been DIEING to see Tangled!

 Unwrapping more presents.

In his GAME CHANGER outfit!  (see what I mean...this is actually what he looked like yesterday...he's growing up WAY too fast!!) 

What a sweetie we have.    He is so excited to play t-ball this year.  That was the main reason he wanted to turn 4 because he knew he'd be old enough to play!  He brings so much joy to our family!  He loves his brothers and sister, especially Caleb and he still tells his Dad & Mom at least once every day that he loves us without being prodded.  We sure do love this boy!!

Kyla's DI (Destination Imagination) Competition!

This last weekend (Saturday the 26th) was Kyla's DI team's competition.  They have been working so hard since December to get everything ready and the day finally arrived.  She had to be up to the school on the bus ready to go by 6:15 on a Saturday...UGGHH!  But she had a great surprise waiting for her when she got there.  Mrs. Green brought her a goody bag full of all kinds of great stuff for winning the design for the DI t-shirts that both teams wore for the competition.  Mrs. Green also made t-shirts for the family to wear to support Kyla...Here we all are at the competition in our shirts (except Tony...he tried to squeeze into his, but it was just a little too small!)

Their challenge was at 9:00 in Rifle and we just barely made it in time!!  I only got one picture because I was taking video of the skit.  So here's that one picture!

Their challenge was calle the Triple Take Road Show.  They had to perform their skit to 3 different "pretend" audiences.  They did a fabulous job!!  And since their skit was at 9:00a.m. and then they had their instant challenge at 1:00, but parents cannot watch that one, and then the awards assembly wasn't until 6:30 we decided to take off and do some shopping in Grand Junction and then head home.

We got a call at about 7:15 from a crying Kyla telling us that they had won 1st place and would be going to state in Denver sometime in April!!  I was kicking myself that we didn't stay, but I have no idea what we would have done there for all those hours with the boys!!  Anyway, all their hard work paid off!!  Now they have to keep on working to make it better for State!!  We're so proud of her!!

Caleb turns double digits!

It was Caleb's Birthday on Tuesday the 22nd.  We had a family birthday party on Monday night for FHE.  Caleb opened presents:

A Hot Wheels car from Rhett (Rhett picked it out himself and just had to buy the "cool car" for Caleb!)

Eli bought Caleb some Basketball and Baseball cards. Caleb LOVED them!

This was from Tony and I and Grandpa & Grandma Wilson...we wanted him to pick out his own bike so this is how we told him that's what he was going to be getting!

Here's the Birthday Boy with his cake on fire!!  Can't believe he's 10!!

Putting the candles on the cake!

Here's Caleb's Birthday Cake...If you would like the recipe head on over to Double the Deliciousness!

It was a great party and I was able to take Caleb out to lunch on Thursday for his "birthday lunch with Mom" (and Rhett!) and we stopped at Walmart and bought him the bike he wanted.  I'll get a picture of him on it and post it up soon!

Also, I've been sorting through all our photo's on the computer and came across this super duper DUPER cute one of Caleb!!  I just had to post it too! 

This was a couple of months after Caleb had turned 4 (which incidentally is about where my youngest is at now...I CANNOT believe how fast time flies!)  Isn't he about the cutest little 4 year old EVER!!

How we love our Caleb...what joy he brings to our family!!  Always happy and very loving!!