Teenager/Mom Lagoon Day

I was lucky to spend a whole day with Josh this summer at our local amusement park.  Jeff hates roller coasters and he was happy for me to take him.  I loved every minute I got to spend alone with him.  Here we are about to board THE original white roller coaster.  It is slowly turning brown because the replacement wood no longer needs to be painted white with weather treated paint.

 Joshua really, really loved this ride but would't take a picture with me.  I guess one selfie with you mom is enough to last a year or so.

This corndog was epic and he could've easily eaten one or two more.

 

 I did convince him to let me take a picture of him in front of his favorite ride.  I told him I would ride any thing he wanted and as many times as he wanted.  I was so relieved when he decided 3 times in a row on the Colossus after 2 times in a row on Wicked was enough.  My head was KILLING me but I couldn't tell him that.  

Halloween 2014

 This Halloween was a year to remember.  Caleb actually wore a costume!  When  he wouldn't take off Katie's Lego costume, we decided it might be worth it to try one for him.  He loved it.  Can you see he even let me dye his hair orange.  Man, that kid has progressed so much this year. 
Kyle's costume was a self designed Chocolate Knight.  His helmet is a Hershey Kiss.  His sword is a 3 Musketeers bar.  The shield is a Reese's peanut butter cup and the armor is two Hershey bars.  He came up the idea and assembled the entire costume himself.  Mom offered tiny a small amount of help with quality control and paint application.  Jeff helped the most by not putting an end to the entire endeavor when he had to witness the massacre of so many cardboard boxes and the ensuing mess all over the house.  Art kids are MESSY!

Some memories hold stronger than others.

When I see these three pictures, it invokes a lot of emotion and very strong memories from being a mom.  This first picture is from Caleb's therapy room.  He has an occupational therapist that works with his issues that interfere with everyday life.  Usually they start a session with some sort of physical stimulation which seems to kick start his focus and helps him relax.  It's always a little surprising to me how well this works.  If he is having a panic attack at home or at the store, I can calm him down by hugging him tightly, rubbing his head or massaging a part of his body.  This "autism" thing sure bites hard but I love learning how to deal with it and learning how special this little boy really is. 

This image of him holding his little brother is precious for many reasons.  One of the strongest memory I have from being a mother is when Kyle was a 3 day old and was at home for his first night.  When I woke up I found Joshua in the crib, holding Kyle's hand, and fast asleep.  I kick myself quite often for not having a photo for proof of that magical moment.  Although, it's kind of nice that it is an image that only Jeff and I have and we hold it dear to our hearts. 

Sibling Love!

 This picture of my oldest with a bee he froze into a deep sleep and reined with dental floss, cracks me up and sometimes brings me to tears.  Sweet tears!  This boy has such a love for nature, science, animals, and above all-BUGS!  One of our funniest memories of baby Josh is walking with him along the sidewalk in Cedar City when he had just learned to walk.  He would drop in an instant and hold his face inches away from the sidewalk to watch EVERY SINGLE ANT along our way.  

This memory photo is for all of my babies.  They have all taken their turns sitting on the bathroom counter while Mommy does her makeup and hair.  I love watching them copy me while brushing their hair and applying makeup to their faces.  My oh my, being a mother give you so many wonderful and tender moments.  It's terribly hard but still tender.  I will miss these "littles" keeping me company in the bathroom.  I might even miss this little bulldog banging on my shower door and emptying every cupboard and drawer the entire time I'm in there.  Maybe.....

Yellowstone!

We were able to go to in August with my family.  We were able to see tons of beautiful scenery, spend lots of time together and we were able to see the coolest wildlife.

Here we are waiting for Old Faithful.

This was the piece de resistance.  This bear capped off this wonderful reunion.

My kids would have so much fun if they lived on a farm.  We went to Manila pond to swim and fish.  They spent the entire time catching and playing with the crawdads.

This boy and his wildlife.  If he doesn't have a career in biology, I will be quite surprised.

End of Summer Fun

We had a great 4th of July.  The kids saved money for a while to buy their own fireworks.  Kyle was super sweet and let his siblings set off his roman candles.  Caleb was insanely brave and did one himself.

These boys returned from a magical trip to Kentucky to visit their cousins.  They had hours of toad hunting, spider killing, chicken herding, gun shooting, mole drowning, and more fun than should be possible.  I missed them terribly and I can't believe they changed planes through the Denver Airport by themselves.

Josh was able to go on his first backpacking trip with the Teachers from our ward.  He was exhausted and sad he didn't catch any fish but had a blast.

Nana Shari gave us a week in Park City in a condo.  We had a really nice time swimming in the pool, playing games and riding the alpine slide.  Josh wasn't very happy because he couldn't swim.  He was nursing a torn nail bed and ripped off nail from a baseball injury.

Here's my hero waiting for the doctor.  He was such a trooper.  That was a horrible injury and looked so painful.

Here are two adorable brothers getting ready for big brother Josh to take us for an afternoon bike ride.  

We went camping with our family friends over the 24th of July.  We drove up Spanish Fork Canyon to Diamond Fork.  This campground was awesome.  I wish I had more pictures but every time I wanted to grab my camera, it was in the tent when Blake was napping.  We were able to play in the river, go on a nature hike with hobbit houses (small bushes created little nooks and caves), a teepee, a spider bench, and "lego" plants.  We spent some time at a red rock formation where one of the other boys almost peed on a rattlesnake.  Mom let Josh and Kyle get close enough to check it out and identify it.