Plentiful Pumpkins

This year we decided to just grow sunflowers - so the kids could see how tall the plants would grow AND pumpkins - to see how many we could get. Unfortunately the pumpkin seeds that were supposed to grow the "big" pumpkins were eaten, either by the birds or the dogs, but the kids are pretty excited about our pumpkin harvest.

So, since we didn't grow any "big" pumpkins, we decided to take pictures with Grandpa's GIANT pumpkin...

Summer Daze

Summer is long gone, but it was fun while it was here.

The month of June included...

the boys and their 2-wheel bikes (with training wheels)

new pets - 2 Bearded Dragons (Buddah and Loki)

In July we...

celebrated the 4th (one of our favorite holidays)

partied at the annual Richards reunion
(my mom and her siblings)

went to the zoo a couple of times (and had to ride the merry-go-round while we were there)

started AND finished a craft project for the boys room...a rag-tag-garland (thanks Aubrey!) I also took down their closet door and made a curtain with matching squares of fabric. It was so much fun!

swam in our cute neighbor's pool

August included...

Our 6-year wedding anniversary (we celebrated the week before with the kids at Joe's Crab Shack)

Maddie went to Girls' Camp at Camp Piuta

Gavin learned to stand on his head

Kyle is still trying

and Sophie entered the baby contest at the Davis County Fair. She didn't win anything, but it was still fun. We'll try harder next year!

Birthday #5 and A Visit From Grandma Sun!

Has it been 5 years already?!

Monday was Gavin's birthday and he's so happy that he's 5 now! He's been counting down to this birthday mostly because he gets to go to the "Big School" this fall.

Gavin loves to be the center of attention...but which of my kids don't? He is a big helper and enjoys helping fold laundry, cook, and pull weeds - when the mood strikes him. He learned so much at preschool this year and it amazes me at the things his mind comes up with. Lately his deep questions consist of the different names of bones and with our recent visitors here, he wants to know how we are all related and where people live and how far away that is. His other love is video games, especially "Tum Tum" aka. Star Wars.

Lucky for me, he picked out a tiger cake for his birthday and not something more complicated.

Gavin, Kyle and Sophie playing the Pirate game on his birthday.

Gavin on his new swingset! I'm not sure, but I think I love it more than the kids do!

Happy Birthday to my biggest bed hog!

Other exciting news at our house...

Tommy's mom, her boyfriend, and Tommy's brother came for a visit! Tommy and I have been married for almost 6 years and this was the first time I had met any of them. Sun (pronounced "soon") and I have only talked on the phone a handful of times, so this was a very special treat.

The kids loved her immediately and Sophie quickly became her sidekick. Grandma Sun taught the boys to chew gum, so now Gavin thinks he needs a piece every couple of hours. It was fun to have them here to celebrate Gavin's birthday and to show them around the area a little.

We took Sun and her boyfriend Paul out to Antelope Island for a picnic and site seeing. Sun loves to look at and take pictures of scenery and loves rocks. We had to bring one back from the island...is that legal?

While they were here we ate out a lot....yea for me! It was good for the kids to go out with us, because we usually don't take them with us when we go out. Mean, huh? We went to Famous Dave's, Olive Garden and on the last night we went to Tepanyaki. Tommy and I had been there once before, but it was the first time for everyone else. Kyle started crying when the chef lit the grill on fire, but other than that, we all enjoyed it.

Now I can't wait until we go visit them in Missouri!

All In The Month of May

Here's some pictures of Tommy, Gavin and Ethan's big fishing trip up to Pineview Reservoir...

The only one who caught anything was Gavin! Pictures taken on Mothers' Day...

The boys and Roxy playing with bubbles.

Trying to feed the ducks at the ponds...the ducks weren't cooperating!

And then just some fun pictures in front of my Bleeding Hearts...

Oh, and one last picture of Maddie with her boot on! Hooray, it is finally off!!!

Now we'll just have to count down to when the braces come off.

A Fun, Too Short Weekend

We had a fun weekend, but it never seems quite long enough.

We perfected our homemade pizza skills...after only two tries! Tommy found the best combination of cheeses for our pizza: muenster, gouda & mozzarella - yummy!!! Saturday, I went with my sister (Popcorn the Clown...who, by the way, is the cutest clown EVER!) to the Children's Justice Center Safety Fair in Farmington. I did face painting and she does balloon tying. I practiced on my own kids the night before to get warmed up and had a really fun time. Then of course the boys wanted me to paint on them some more today, so I thought I share some pics of them. I didn't do anything this elaborate at the fair, but hey, when it's your own kids, what the heck! I painted Kyle like a clown and it turned out so cute on his round little face, but it apparently wasn't what he was hoping for because he swiped it off before I could get a picture of it.

Gavin chose to be a Genie...

and for Maddie I chose a koala...

and a some cool eye patterns...

Maddie and I also played dressup with Mukki - in a tutu.

We decided we need to make her some more outfits, because she looks so dang funny, uh, I mean cute!

Maddie also got me started on a Michael Jackson kick...reliving my childhood...so I watched a bunch of music videos on You Tube and now have these songs runny around in my head...aaaccckkk! Sombody save me!!!

Springing for Easter

Maddie started out our Spring Break with bang!

Saturday the 4th, around 10:00pm I asked Maddie to go shut the front blinds. I was getting the kids ready for bed and Tommy was unclogging the toilet...again...I heard a loud thump and a strangled scream from Maddie, but didn't think too much of it.

Quite a few minutes later, she comes crawling out of the front room crying. She tells us that she was standing on the Cuddlebag- in the dark, no less - to close the windows (still not exactly sure why that was necessary) and when she stepped off she heard a pop in her foot that was followed by terrible pain. One look at her foot and Tommy said he knew it was broken. Me, on the other hand says, "...let's just put some ice on it and maybe the swelling will go down. I'm sure it's just bruised..." even though there was a huge bulge protruding from the side of her foot. What a great mother, huh?

Anyways, an hour and a half later, Maddie and I are off to the Emergency Room. (This happened to be my second midnight trip over to Layton that week, because earlier in the week I had to take Kyle over to Wee Care and found out he had a sinus infection, which was why he couldn't quit coughing ALL NIGHT LONG!) After some x-rays and a short exam with the doctor, they announced that indeed it was broken and sent us home with her foot wrapped up, a boot on, and some crutches. She did time it pretty good though, because she could spend the week of Spring Break laying with her foot up, resting.

Unfortunately, that put a small damper on activities to do while she and Gavin were off from school, but the weather wasn't cooperating anyways. The boys did of course color eggs...

I found another use for puppy potty training pads...very absorbent for egg dye and so was Kyle's shirt apparently...

Sophie had to watch the dyeing from a distance - maybe she'll help next year.

We also went to my dad and mom's for an indoor Easter egg hunt and Easter dinner on Saturday. It's awesome to be able to get together with my whole family so often.

We took pics of the kids in their new Easter outfits...

And we had to dress up Roxy to have her pose with Mukki in the basket...which wasn't as easy as I had expected...

At least Roxy didn't eat the basket or the ears...we can always try again next year.

I Love My Kids (Even If They Are Goofballs!)

What is it with my kids?

They make me so crazy during the day that I can't wait until bedtime! Then when they're asleep, they look so cute and peaceful, I want to snuggle them and wake them up!

Here's some pics of our short weekend trip to St. George...