Pinewood Derby

Dylan has been sooo excited about the Pinewood Derby. We all know that Dylan gets very excited about most things so try to imagine even more excitement than normal :). With Dads help he was able to build a 'sweet" car that he was sure was a winner. The night of the derby we had Chinese food and his fortune said, "you will win success in whatever you adopt",and this was all the confidence he needed. He was sure that meant he was going to win. Dad and I were just holding our breath hoping he wouldn't be too disappointed. Well he was es tactic (while mom and dad were shocked) as he won his first race and then the next and the next. With about 25 boys racing there were many races before it came down to the final 4 which Dylan was in. He came in 4th overall and was more than thrilled! We couldn't believe it, Dad was pretty sceptical of the cars abilities but Dylan again has taught us to have a little more faith:). If you can believe it that wasn't even what he most excited about. All week he has been talking about beating Sister Madsen(the primary president, and a good friend of ours, made a car and she brought it to race the boys) and after lots of big talk ("you're going down" etc.) he did win. Not that he needed it but it was another highlight to a great night of racing.

Ready, Set, Go! and then....wait for it, wait for it

Thanks for a great race Sister Madsen, sorry you had to lose!

Happy Birthday Dylan!

Dylan turned 9 today. He is soooo excited. He gets excited easily but he has been even more excited this week as he anticipated his birthday. It's Sunday and he can't wait to be sung to on his actual birthday. He just couldn't wait to open his presents until later tonight so mom & dad gave him their gifts, a big book on how to draw all kinds of things, glow in the dark planets, a book STINK (Judy Moody's little brother) and the most desired gift: breathsavers. He has been asking for those forever. Not sure they will last very long, he is very unselfish and is has been giving them away all day. We will be going to Grandma & Grandpa Alexander's later to celebrate the special day with family. On the menu, his favorites: spaghetti and mint brownies with mint ice cream, yummy :)!! We love you Dylan. You are an amazing boy and we are very blessed to have you in our home and in our family. How boring our lives would be without you with us. Thank you for always trying your best, we know it's hard but you try and we appreciate it. Thank you for being patient with us as we try to be the parents you deserve.
Message from the siblings:
Braeden- I love you Dylan!!
Star- I love you because you are always willing to play with me even if it's girl stuff and you like boy things :)!
Cate- I love you because you are nice!
Ean- I love playing legos with you!

Dylan's B-day Bash

Dylan asked for a friend party this year and we were happy to oblige him since its been a few years since he had one. We planned a fun party at the park on the Saturady before his actual birthday. I let Scott and Dylan come up with the games and they decided to play kickball. Everything was planned but who plannned on the rain all week? Needless to say his party at the park was rained out but never fear Dylan came up with a good plan B. Party at Sand Hollow Aquatic Center. The boys had a great time swimming inside while it poured outside :)!

Braeden's Gift of Time

So according to Braeden he got the best gift of time out of all the kids. Scott took him shooting and he got his first driving lesson in what he hopes to be his bronco. (he has to pay for it himself in order for it to be his)
It sounds like they had a great time. Scott said they climbed a hill bigger than he has ever climbed before which is saying alot coming from him. The bronco was quite the machine I guess. It looks as though, from the pics, that dad got brave and let Braeden test out his shooting skills :)!



They both came home in one piece so I guess he's a pretty good shot.

Cate's Gift of Time

Cate loves to cook and I found these great matching aprons so we decided to give them to Cate along with a day of cooking whatever she wanted with mom. I think these gifts of time have been more of a gift for me. I have really enjoyed spending time with the kids and it makes me realize I need to plan dates with them more often.

We made carrot snack cake for her Liberty Girls club that afternoon. It was yummy!

Are these not the cutest aprons? And yes, I am in my pajamas. I wondered if I should hurry and get dressed since we would be taking pics but come on I might as well be honest and truth is I'm in my pj's alot. What can I say, I like to be comfy!

my pay day

I just have to share my little pay day I received today. I've wondered if my children will ever enter a love of learning phase and have tried to patiently wait, not very successfully I might add. But today I got a glimpse of what it might look like. I was busy trying to get Cate ready for her Liberty Girls club and the other kids are off playing and not doing school time things because mom is busy of course. I call them in getting very impatient with them all to start with the "they know better etc. etc." I rattle off a list of things for Dylan to do (he's been playing in his room) and Star is next. As I start to rattle off things for her as well, She says "but mom can I finish doing my own school?". What school has she been doing I'm thinking honestly not really knowing what she was doing because I was busy with Cate. Anyway, she says she'll show me what she was doing and I follow her. She has been in the den, has gotten one of the children's encyclopedia's and is reading about flowers. But wait thats not all, she has got 2 notebooks, one that she is writing down what she is learning along with copying the diagrams in the book and the other one she has written down words that she doesn't know. She says that she thought she could use those as spelling words or vocabulary words to learn. WHAT!!! Is this Star? Is this one of my children? Fighting back tears I let her know that what she has done is fabulous and she can definetly keep working on it while I'm gone. Probably not a big deal to others but a huge pay day for me. Glimpses like this keep me going and remind me why I'm doing this. Thank you Star, I can't wait for you to tell me all about flowers!

Bowling

Our warm fuzzy jar is all filled up & we are ready to go bowling! We actually got it filled before Christmas but were so busy that we had to wait a while. The kids are so excited they ask almost daily if today is the day. The day finaly came and here are a few highlights from our night of bowling. Can I just say, not to brag or anything, that the biggest highlight was that, now I know it is hard to believe but, I WON! I couldn't believe it, I won! I usually only bowl like a 60 if I'm lucky but I bowled 107! Braeden tried to snag my win from me, but I pulled through at the end. Maybe I should join a league :)!




Have bowling shoes ever looked so cute? They were so little & cute I just had to snap a pic.
We even got a smile from Braeden which is hard to come by these days, he's been practicing his teenage moodiness :).

All the kids did soooo good. Almost everyone got a strike or spare at least once and they were having so much fun. We should probably do this more often, we had a great time together. It was nice to find something that the whole family can enjoy.

Since Grandma D. put in a few warm fuzzies while visiting we were glad she was still here to have a little fun with us.



Cate was a great little bowler, she even got a strike! Way to go Cate!


Ean loved bowling. I couldn't believe he could actually do it by himself. Of course, it was hilarious, he pretty much just dropped the ball and we all held our breath hoping it would make it to the end of the lane. It always did though and he would get so excited that he knocked down the pins.

Daddy Daughter Date

Star's "Gift of Time" was a date with dad. It started at In-N-Out Burger for lunch.


Then ice skating at the new ice skating rink in town. Star was so excited that an ice skating rink was opening here she almost couldn't contain herself. When she saw the sign she immediately called Scott to tell him, she was so excited. So, it was a no brainer where he would take her on their date. They had a great time. Star was skating really well and getting pretty fast. Unfortunately a little too fast and ended up falling and scraping up her face pretty bad. It looks worse today, swollen all the way to her eye and a nice ice burn down her face, poor girl :( ! She wouldn't trade it though, she wants to go again as soon as possible!

This months field trip was really fun. We went to a pediatric dentist office. It was decorated super cute, like an old west town. The staff was very nice and great with the kids. They took the kids on a tour of their office explaining everything they do there step by step and let them practice brushing teeth and sitting in the chairs. Dylan volunteered to show the kids how they take x-rays of their teeth which is surprising since he's quite nervous when he actually has to do it. When we were done they supplied with kids with new toothbrushes, toothpaste, a book and a balloon. So much fun!

Knight's Club

Dylan became the president, had the presentation & activity this week for Knight's Club, busy boy. He did a great job conducting the meeting and with his presentation on how he is Brave Enough To Fight Dragons. His activity was a lego contest. He gave each boy, and Connie & I, a bag of legos and we all had to build whatever we could in 30 minutes trying to use all the legos. I thought this would be easy but i drew a complete blank when I opened my bag. I need more lego practice :)! The boys had a great time though and were impresively creative.

I Am Brave Enough To Fight Dragons by Dylan Alexander
Dragons mean bad things in the world or things that tempt us. Like disobeying your parents, taking drugs, smoking, lying and stealing.
I can be brave enough to fight them by working together with my family, not getting near bad things and just don't do them.
I can read scriptures so that I can get the Armor of God on and that will help me when I have to fight.

A Romantic Getaway

I thought there wasn't a better way to start off the new year than with a overnight getaway for just the two of us so I surprised Scott with a room at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas on New Year's day. He was actually surprised which made it even more fun :). The hotel was very nice, the room was fabulous with the comfiest (is that even a word?) bed ever I wanted to take it home. We went to the movies and saw NINE. Not sure that we would recommend it, it wasn't our favorite. It was soooo nice to get away and spend time together, a real treat. A HUGE Thank You to mom and dad for watching the kids for us especially since Ean was throwing up all night and sick the next day :( which they didn't tell us so we wouldn't worry and come home.

Happy New Year

We had a great time ringing in the New Year with our close friends, a night of games, yummy food, sparklers and lots of laughter. We all had so much fun, all the kids stayed up to bring in the New Year, even Ean made it until midnight. We are very grateful to live in this neighborhood where we are surrounded by great friends. Thanks to all of them for making this night a fabulous one!