Valley of Fire Trip (11/1)

I have to admit that the Holidays really threw me for a loop with my blogging! I'm hoping to get more used to it to be better at it next year. In the mean time I want to highlight a few "happenings" in November and December. Then I can hopefully keep up!

On November 1st, we, and by we I mean Ryan, Me, Zach, Kaitlyn and Caleb (Will was having fun with his grandparents for a special day) headed out to the Valley of Fire. We had such a great time rock climbing at Red Rock that we wanted to try it again. We stopped at the picnic area first and had some hot dogs and goodies and then started on the hike to the Mouse Tank. I carried Caleb in the back pack and Ryan carried his camera bag (which probably weighed more than Caleb!) Here we are at the top of the Mouse Tank rock.

Zach and Kaitlyn had a good time finding holes to climb in so Ryan could take some fun shots of them peeking out. They thought it was pretty cool to hide in the rocks and Caleb thought it was fun to try eating the sand...


On the way back to the parking lot, we went a different route, off the beaten path, and came across an amazing arch. We decided to climb up and get a few shots on top of it (yes, we're crazy!)Of course Ryan was able to capture a lot of amazing shots, so I put a collage together of my favorites. Good job Rye! We had a great time and the kids want to go back soon!

Halloween 2008...

I'm finally starting to get caught up... almost. Halloween was a lot of fun this year (for me or the kids??) We had parties at school, a trunk-or-treat ward party, and of course regular trick-or-treating. William got to decorate his own cupcake in class, and Caleb had a great time going in to visit Kaitlyn and Zach. He tried taking off a few times, enjoying his freedom, but he didn't make it too far.


















Zach and Kaitlyn have always been excited to dress up for Halloween. They look forward to being able to wear their costume afterwards too, and they come up with so many different ways to wear them. This year, much to my demise (ok, not quite that bad) Zach remembered a promise I made him a long time ago. He's always wanted to be this "bloody skeleton" and I kept telling him he had to be eight first. Well, he's eight and he didn't forget (like I obviously thought he would). So here's Zach in his long awaited Bloody Skeleton costume....


I bet he's making quite the scary face to go along with is scary costume; it's just too bad that we can't see it! (We could tell from the sounds he was making). As for letting him dress up for fun in this later... no way. I don't want fake blood all over the place (even if it's an "accident"). Plus, knowing his sister (yes, sister and not brother) it will probably be used again.

Speaking of Kaitlyn, she was of course, mistaken for a boy most of the time. She had a great time in her costume and it fit her well. I have to admit that it is nice not having to do fancy hair and make-up like most girls her age want!

Kaitlyn in her "stance:"


Luckily, Will and Caleb are still too young to care what they are and are more than willing to wear whatever I tell them to. I know that's going to change one of these days, so I'm enjoying it while I can. Will was a football player (number 7 John Elway, of course) and Caleb was a "Tiny Ninja."






















After all was said and done and we were home from trick-or-treating, William and Caleb sat down on the floor with their buckets and tried to get away with eating as much as they could before getting caught. Here's our little guys living it up! Yummy!

William's 1st day of school...(Oct. 21, 2008)

William is going big time... already! I have a lot of mixed feelings about William already being in school. He is so small still and I love having his at home to play with Caleb (who is all of a sudden a lot more clingy). However, because of his late speaking and since we still have a hard time understanding him, I had him tested by the school district. He ended up qualifying to have speech therapy and goes to preschool Monday through Thursday in the mornings. He loves going and taking his backpack and loves being a "big" boy. Now if I can just get him to be a "big boy" who goes to the bathroom on the potty...

Here's William in his classroom on his first day. He walked in and didn't even care if I stayed or not. He started playing immediately and barely said goodbye - I'm the one who had a hard time!

Red Rock and Randy's Leaving! (Oct 08)

Well, my youngest brother Randy is finally the ripe old age of 19 and ready to head out on a mission. It's funny how when people who are close to you (whether they're children or siblings or good friends) do big, grown-up things, it makes you feel older. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, we wanted to have one last "fun" time with the family before he left. We all met out at Red Rock (in Logandale) and thanks to my sister Tosha and her husband Joe, be had a great time riding dune buggies, climbing rocks, eating (of course) and hanging out. Ryan took out his camera and was able to capture some great shots during the event. These are a few of my favorites...




Ryan also took some "track" pictures of some creepy-crawlers. Here's one of those shots:

I have to admit that one of my favorite parts was rock climbing. We climbed to the top of Easter Egg Hill and took some great shots. I was glad I could still "hang" with the youngsters I was
with! Here we are at the top:


















And here's a few shots on the way down and towards the bottom:


All in all we had a great time and it was also fun seeing family that we hadn't seen for a while. My Aunt Helen and her daughters came down from Logan and we had such a great time with them too. I think their kids were just as dirty as ours after all was said and done. On Sunday we were able to hear Randy speak one last time and spend more time together as a family. Now we'll have to wait another two years for that! Good luck Randy!

Family Pictures and Caleb's 1st Birthday! (October 4th)

On the fourth of October, Caleb turned one! It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since I've had him. Time is flying by. It also happened to be one of the final weekends that we could get together as a family and take some pictures before Randy left on his mission. We ended up having Ryan's family meet us there to, and a great friend and photographer, Chris Ross, took a lot of pictures for us. The day started out like it was going to rain (and did in some places), but where we were was just windy and a little cold (but no rain). I've added some of my favorite shots. Here's one of all of the families together: We had a lot of fun and you can see from some of the next pictures that the wind did not quit blowing, unfortunately. Here's a few of my favorite pictures of the day:

I have such a wonderful family and we had a great time taking pictures (especially when it warmed up). I just have one more picture, that happens to be my one of my favorites taken that day. I have some amazing sisters, a sister-in-law, and a daughter who posed with me on this one. Everyone looks like a model! You guys are awesome! Here it is:

After getting a ton of pictures, we retired to the field below and had a picnic and celebrated Caleb's first birthday. He had a great time making a mess out of his cake. While he had a better time opening his presents than playing with them (like a normal one year old), he also had a great time playing outside. I'm learning he loves to be outside. Here are some highlights:


After Caleb's "fun" we (all three of my brothers, my husband and Jen) decided to play a game of touch football. I realized how "BIG" my little brothers are now and how OLD I am getting! I don't think my knee will ever be the same! All told it was still a very fun time though.

I Got My Bike! (September 08)

In September, Ryan and I decided that we wanted to try to do a triathlon. We decided to order some bikes to help us along in our endeavor.

We were pretty excited to receive them and when they came, Ryan put them together for us. We each rode them down to the bike shop and had them tuned and tightened up, and now we're trying to get out and ride them as much as possible. This was my first experience with bikes (besides my banana seat pink and pretty from elementary) and I have learned a lot about even having gears, when to use what and how, "clipping in" and lots of other bike things. I know I have a ton more to learn, but it's been pretty exciting thus far.

We also went down to the YMCA at the first of October and signed up for a family membership. Now we can work on our swimming too. We have a lot of work to do still, but I'm excited to try!

It's Pinewood Derby Time! (Sept. 11th)

I figured that I would hurry and get a few of the September highlights in and one of those was Zach's first Pinewood Derby. Zach joined scouts in June and loves it! He doesn't like to miss and enjoys all of the activities. He was really excited to have his first pinewood derby too. We bought the kit at the beginning of the summer, but like most people, procrastinated a little until about two weeks until the event. Ryan got out his "special secret" pinewood derby building book and got to work (when he could find the time). Zach was also able to help when he could. Besides a few paint job glitches, Zach and his dad were able to finish with time to spare. Here's the finished project:


They had to "weigh" in the car on the 10th and leave it overnight. They were a little nervous because they couldn't touch the car after that. (No adding that last bit of graphite!) The big race came and they had the whole track sectioned off and it was set up to be pretty official. Here are all of the cars - ready to race:


Each car would take a run in each lane (there were 4) and the car with the fastest times would win. They ran all of the cars quickly and in no particular order, so it was a little chaotic. Here's the cars on the track and the kids watching:





After all of the cars had a chance to race all of the lanes, the officials and leaders took a few minutes to see the results on the computer (I can't believe it's computerized and so official now - it's come such a long way). The last part of the night was spent giving out awards. They awarded lots of different awards from the best looking to the best paint job, etc., then they gave a first, second and third place medal to three people in each den. Zach ended up getting first in his den! The last awards they gave out were to the fastest overall - out of all of the dens. We knew Zach had a chance, but we weren't prepared to get ... first overall! I'm so proud of Zach and his dad! Here's Zach getting his trophy: Good job boys!!

1st day of school

So I finally figured out how to blog (somewhat) and got all excited and went crazy and made my blog and now I'm having a hard time keeping up with it. Since I talked about our August trip to Logan in September, I'm going to go in order of events since then, even if they were last month. Then I can hopefully catch up and get used to keeping things updated!


Here goes...As soon as we got back from Logan, Zach and Kaitlyn started school (we got back on Thursday, had open house on Friday and started school on Monday!) Here's a pic of Zach and Kaitlyn on the 1st day. I can't believe how big they are both getting! Sometimes I can't believe I'm old enough to have kids this big. I'm getting so old!







Zach is in third grade now and ended up in GATE also. He's pretty excited to be getting back into school - he loves learning. Zach also started piano this summer. He is doing great and loves to play all of the time (you can ask his dad about this one). He practices his songs for the lesson, then plays around for a while. He has made up quite a few of his own songs. It's fun to see him doing well






Kaitlyn is in 1st grade now and goes all day! I was a little sad thinking that my great helper would be gone all day now. She had a hard time at first because she got so tired after school, but she soon got used to it and is doing great. While she likes learning too, she is definitely more social and loves that part of being in school. She knows so much about all of the kids in her class already.

My first Blog!

Ok. Now I am officially a blogger! It's been a long time coming, but it's finally happening. I am really excited about keeping track of the great events and people in my life. I also hope it's a way to keep in touch with everyone.

Here is just a little about our family. We currently reside in Las Vegas, NV with our family of 6. Zach is the oldest at 8 years old, then Kaitlyn is 6 years old, William is 3 and Caleb is almost one. Right now Zach and Kaitlyn are enjoying 1st and 3rd grade and Ryan is almost done getting his Bachelor's Degree (he should graduate next May). William, Caleb and I get to stay at home and hang out together.

We enjoy traveling to visit friends, hiking together, riding bikes and playing sports together. Zach is currently enjoying Roller Hockey and Kaitlyn will start something real soon (either Basketball or some kind of Karate class). Ryan is getting into photography and you can catch all of his latest shots at: www.ryantanderson.com. He really enjoys doing it and wishes he had more time to spend doing it. He has also designed some websites that you can see at: www.pristinewebdesign.com. If he had more time in the day, I'm sure he'd do more with these hobbies.

I am just starting to pick up a few hobbies. I want to train for and do a triathlon soon and I enjoy the new bikes we got to start practicing. I spend most of my time with the kids and I can't believe how busy it can be. Oh well.

I'm adding a few pictures from Logan that Ryan and his friend took when we went there in July. We had a great time and hope to be able to start traveling more now that Caleb is getting older!














I'm sure you'll get to know us well through the rest of our blog, so goodbye for now...