Fun Run

Last weekend we had a family reunion with Bryce's very extended family! Saturday morning they had a Fun Run. It was a mile run on a gently rolling dirt road. The entire family participated! Ty and McKay did 1/2 a mile, the rest finished it! Bryce even took 3rd place in the Men's category and Allison took 1st place in the women's! It was super fun!
We also got to play lot's of games! Alyssa was brave and endured cold hose water being pored on her to fill up this garbage can that had holes in it! She did the best of all the teams!

Elysabeth really enjoyed her popsicle!

My kids can work!

We are having a fabulous summer! I make my kids work! We do regular chores and then about an hour to an hour and a half of "extra chores". So far we have washed all the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen inside and out, cleaned with soap and water all the indoor garbage cans, scrubbed the laundry room walls, etc. We then do worksheets and flash cards. Am I the meanest mom ever? My kids sure think so! I think it is great! They are learning to work and I am getting a very clean house! Here is a picture of them hard at work this morning!

Notice even Elysabeth is helping?

She did this all on her own! What a cutie!

End of School Year Activities!

Here are some pictures of the kids in their end of year stuff! We had a dance recital, dance festival and McKay's preschool graduation!

Boy are we all glad it is summer!

12 years and a fish story!

So Friday May 23rd we celebrated 12 years of marriage! It was a fun day. Bryce's mom took the kids and we went to lunch, went and saw the new Indiana Jones, went shopping, went to dinner, got ice cream and came home and watched another movie in our theater! What a day! It was so nice to not have the kids around and just be with each other! I have to say I am way more in love with him now than 12 years ago! We were babies when we got married! Five kids later and we rely on each other a lot more!

2 Dozen Roses from Bryce!

So the fish story goes like this, so Alyssa was changing her fishes water and she had the whole tank in the sink. As she was lifting it out, it slipped and she dropped it back in the sink and the whole thing spilled. Well, I hear a big bang and then Alyssa is screaming. Bryson asks, "Where is Goldie?" The fish. Well, Alyssa screams louder. Turns out the fish is down the garbage disposal. So, I can't bring myself to stick my hand in there to get it out. I am having flashbacks to when this happened years ago, and Bryce went to turn the light on to see to get it out, and "accidentally", turned on the disposal. Yeah, you can imagine the sound that made. It still makes me cringe! Anyway, Bryson is brave and he reached in and was trying to grab the fish. You could hear it flopping around, and all I could think about were the steel blades and how gross it was going to be when he got it. Well, he finally got it out and we had a bowl of water ready. He put the fish in the water and it was fine! I warned Alyssa that it might not make it, but it is going strong 4 days later! What a fish! Needless to say she is not allowed to put the fish in the tank until it is safely on the counter from now on!

Yuck!

This is what happens when you turn your back on a 1 year old!

Actually it was my sister Tamara who turned her back! Her and her husband had 9 kids while we were at the temple! Yikes! Anyway, Elysabeth got into the bucket of frogs that the kids had just caught at a pond. Yep, frog mud! Yuck Yuck Yuck! The frogs got away, we hope anyway! Otherwise she swallowed them! She sure looks pleased with herself! What a cutie! She really is into everything and we have to watch her constantly!

Tulips as far as the eye can see!

We went to Thanksgiving Point to see the tulips on Saturday. They were gorgeous! I love tulips and daffodils so I was in heaven! Here are a few for you to enjoy!

My Baby is One!

I can't believe Elysabeth is already one! Time sure flies when you have a newborn! She is so fun, just started really walking and is all over the place! She is loved by everyone. On Monday Alyssa was holding her and then had to go to dance. She tried to hand her to me and Libby freaked out and started screaming! She went to Bryson fine, but when he got tired of her the same thing happened. She did not want mom! I have to say, I love it! They all love to haul her around and play with her!

Elysabeth and her cake! She wasn't so sure!

When we gave her the cake she looked at us like we were crazy!
She took dainty pokes at it with her fingers!

This is the messiest she ever got! Our other kids all made huge messes! Not Libby!

I guess I had better show a picture of McKay and Ty. I can't show favoritism to the girls. I don't have a good one of Bryson so he will have to wait! This was the boys trying to imitate Alvin and the Chipmunks. Well, really Simon on the Chipmunks.

Do you love the mic/headset! It is a wonder what you can do with pipe cleaners!