Good Friends and Warriors!

We love dates with our friends, the Bonneys.  The fruit pizza we made was delicious, even though the bottom of the crust was burnt and the top was raw.

I was very jealous of the hair brushing train.  

My friend from high school, Dallas Davis, recently lost his dog puppy, who was only a few months old.  We had him over for dinner, lots of conversation and games.

Can you say Warriors fans?  This bunch was so happy to go to a Jazz vs Warriors game.  

 

Back Home From Cruise

We were very happy to come home and see our kids.  Blake was VERY happy to see us.  The other kids, who knows.

Caleb is creeping up on Dad.  Just 2-3 more inches.

We are soooo grateful for Grandma and Grandpa Carlson who watched our kids.  Here's a sweet picture of Gma reading her favorite book to the boys.  Winnie the Pooh (the original!)

This is too adorable. Jeff is using the hiccup cure his Dad always used on them.  

The boys finally put together these engineering kits Grandma & Grandpa Clark gave them.

 

January 2022

The pictures will be random and out of order.  Our laptop died so all the blogging will be done from my phone and I’m not used to doing it this way.

I’ve asked our kids to make gifts for our Christmas sibling gift exchange.  I started it for 3 reasons.  Saving money, appreciating how hard it is to make a gift, and to teach the kids to try new skills.  2 of those have worked.  The saving money part is a hit and miss.  Sometimes the supplies cost a lot but it’s always worth it.

This year, Josh made Caleb a Grogu tie.  Caleb made Josh some UVU color luggage tags.  Katie painted Blake a blue treasure chest.  Blake sewed Katie a pen holder that attached to her journal.  Kyle made Tait a “First Christmas” ornament.  Tait sewed Kyle a blue floral tie.  This is the only picture I could find of the gifts.

Christmas Pj’s from Gma and Gpa Carlson.

We are loving this picture of these wing spans.  This week, Jeff went to the HS basketball game to watch Katie perform at halftime.  Kyle saw Jeff and pointed him out to his friends.  Kyle’s friends didn’t believe  Kyle.  They said he must’ve been adopted.

This is a terrible picture of a wonderful, candle lit Christmas dinner.  

Our kids have inherited our enjoyment of gross body stuff.  Here they are using hydrogen peroxide to foam out of their ears while cleaning ear wax.  

Even Tait got in on the action.

March 2021

Our laptop has stopped working that I used to use for blogging.  I’m going to try doing posts from my phone.  There will obviously be a learning curve.  The pictures downloaded in a strange order and I can’t figure out how to fix them.  

We visited Payson and helped Gma and Gpa do some yard work.  Now that they are vaccinated, we can visit again!  Caleb and Blake were busy playing with Cinni and helping to cut the pruned branches up into smaller pieces.

We celebrated Katie’s 15th birthday with friends.

She chose The Cheesecake Factory for her dinner with Mom and Dad.  

Blake is back to playing soccer.  Yesterday, he got hit in the face by the ball and twice in the shoulder.  He never even looked to Mom for comfort.  Just gave a 👍 to his coach and kept on playing.  

This is our new hamster “Cub”.  We bought him from a local breeder and we hope he stays healthy for 2-3 years.

This is our hamster “Sabbage” who died a few weeks ago.  She brought us so much joy and it was tough to lose her.

Blake at his soccer game getting some love from Katie. Getting hit a few times and losing miserably makes for a rough afternoon.

 

Halloween 2019

We made an enormous amount of sugar cookies, this year.  It was nice to share them.

The little boys got some stuffed pumpkin toys at an Easter egg hunt last year.  They have loved them dearly and I’m surprised they haven’t fallen apart.  Blake wanted to carve his pumpkin to look like “Pumpkinie”.  Caleb did the same.

Trick or treating was COLD!  Here’s the one picture I remembered to take.  Caleb is Black Panther, Blake is The Hulk, and Kyler is Han Solo.

We walked around our neighborhood first, warmed up at the house for a minute, and then went to Kyler’s neighborhood.  All was going well until Blake saw the lawn decoration that scared him 2 years ago.  He and I broke from the group and walked to houses on the other side of the street.  Caleb soon got too cold and he joined us.  We tried to push Caleb to last a little longer, but after many pleadings and tears, we called it a night.

Choosing our pumpkins from a house down the street.

Kyle’s 16th Birthday

Kyle turned 16.  He enjoyed opening presents, hanging out with friends, and eating cake and ice cream.  We asked what he would want to do, with his friends, for his party.  He kept saying he didn’t want a party.  He said “no” to going to a movie with friends, watching a movie here, or going somewhere with one friend.  Jeff asked him if he wanted to go golfing and Kyle immediately said, “Yes!”.  Jeff was happy to oblige.

October

Time for our annual camping trip with the Duces.  We had fun holding baby Andrew, fishing, throwing rocks, watching a bald eagle fly through camp, eating delicious food and lots of wonderful conversation.

 Blake got really sick in the beginning of October.  He had a fever, cough, runny nose and a nasty sore throat.  He ended up sleeping in bed with me (Jeff gave up his spot for the couch) so I could stay close and help immediately when he would wake up.

He was so sick, he would suck his thumb. He hasn't done that in months.

We ended up at the insta-care with his intense stomach pain, on top of the coughing and sore throat.  They did x-rays for his belly and his lungs.  They didn't find pneumonia or any obvious reason for the stomach pain.  We think it must still be bowel pain from a month ago.  We are keeping him the regimen of keeping his stool really soft and making him sit on the potty after every meal.