WARD CANYON DINNER

 

On Dan's birthday our Ward did a night in the Canyon. Dan happened to be at a seminar, so instead of sitting home, I took the kids up to the Canyon for dinner. During the afternoon they did a photo scavenger hunt. The kids and I had a great time trying to find things around the camp site. The list was long, so Madi and Jaxson lost interest at the end, so Reagan and I finished up by ourselves.

After dinner we had a cake walk and both Reagan and I won. The kids played capture the flag and then it started puring rain. We quickly gathered up our belongings; however were soaked by the time we made it to the car. Too bad the night had to end so quickly. At least we got dinner in before the storm hit.

FUTURE FIREMEN

Last week I took the kids on a tour of the South Jordan Fire Station. I was so impressed with the Fire Department and the time they took to show us around.

We started off by watching an animated video about what starts fire and how to avoid playing with things that might cause a fire. The trucks in the video talked and Reagan thoroughly enjoyed herself. When the movie was over, she wanted to watch the movie again.

Officer Josh and Corbin were our tour guides for the day, they showed the kids their dorm rooms and living area then explained how they have two families. One at home and one at the fire station. After we saw their living quarters, they took us out to the garage and showed us all around the trucks and the ambulance. All the kids got a chance to climb in the truck and hold the jaws of life. Reagan kept asking which truck was going to talk to us, she didn't understand that the "real" fire trucks did not talk.

Jaxson was the lucky boy they picked to try on all of the fireman gear. He was super cute walking around as if he was an actual fireman. He looked like a midget walking around because the coat was so long on him. (He thought he was pretty cool!) They had he wear everything from the boots to the mask to the oxygen tank. They used him as an example of everything they have to wear to protect themselves during a fire.

Last but not least they let all of the kids shoot the fire hose and aim for the barricades they had set up. This may have been every ones favorite part of the tour, I know they all enjoyed it tremendously.

When we left the station, I think Jaxson may have found a new career choice, if his professional ball playing doesn't work out.

PIONEER DAY IN THE CANYONS

 

We decided to enjoy the outdoors on the 24th of July by going to Big Cottonwood Canyon and doing some dutch oven cooking. We went with our friends the Bentley's and with Melissa and Chip. We drove up to Storm Mountain and when we arrived the sites were full. Lucky for us we talked the camp directors over the site to allow up to use one of the group sites that had been previously reserved and the family had already left for the day. We gave them some peach cobbler in return!

The kids enjoyed playing Frisbee and playing on the rocks. Jaxson liked chopping wood and Madi and Lexi Pike played cards while waiting for dinner. We made our usual dutch oven chicken with sage seasoned Bisquick, along with dutch oven potatoes. For dessert (besides the peach cobbler) we roasted marshmallows. Reagan loved them - they were all over her hands and face.

After the canyons we headed back down to the Bentley's home for fireworks. We were joined by the Parke rs and the Jones and we ate some more! Brad made us all snow cones, Erica brought out the rice krispie treats and I followed it up with filled cupcakes.

It was such a relaxing evening that no one wanted it to end. We were out front visiting until after 11:00. The kids all played with glow sticks and sparklers. (Kate Bentley even bit a glow stick and swallowed some of the solution. We found out it isn't harmful, just burns the throat (and glows) a little.

FUNNY, FUNNY REAGAN

I was reading my scriptures one morning as I often do and Reagan came up to me and said "Are you reading about my friend Jesus?" I wanted to melt right there because it was so sweet. Not even five minutes later this is what came out of her mouth as I was using the restroom (the girl gives me no privacy) "Mom, you have a big bum, a really, really, really big bum." Quite the contrast from my friend Jesus.

Reagan has picked up a not so nice habit of screaming nothing at you when you ask her to do something and she doesn't want to, or doesn't like what you have to say. It is driving me crazy (I think she has picked this up from nursery, because all the kids scream for fun) As she was screaming at me during family night, I looked at her and kindly said "Reagan, we do not yell or scream at our moms and dads." She then looked back, started flapping her arms and yelled "Quack, Quack, Quack!" I sat there, not really sure of what to say, while the others in the family all started to laugh. She is such a character!

The other day we were all sitting at the kitchen counter eating dinner, when Reagan looked at Madi and said "You are my very best pal, come here pumpkin." She put her arm around her and gave her a big hug. It was the cutest thing ever!

PIONEER WEEK

We had pioneer week this week and we started it out with an entertaining Family Night. We talked about the story of Mary Fielding Smith and her travels to the Salt Lake Valley. She was a woman with unwavering faith and endurance to travel across the plains with seven children along. What a remarkable journey she had! We also read some other pioneer stories including one about a six year old immigrant from Sweden, who had to sleep on the floor upon arriving in New York City. Her family had brown sugar bags next to their head and during the middle of the night the kids took spoons and ate as much brown sugar as they could. They talked about being so sick the following day and not caring much for brown sugar after that. During our family night we play Pioneer Jeopardy. The kids played against Dan and they both won. On the very last question, Dan had a daily double and wagered all of his money. He could not answer the question about Chimney Rock, so he lost everything and could not participate in final Jeopardy. We were all laughing hysterically. After the lesson we played some pioneer games, including the stick pull, button button and poor doggie. We also made our own butter and used it for dessert on our homemade rolls and jam.

The following day we took a hike to Doughnut Falls. I was a little nervous about hiking with the kids by myself (without Dan) I wasn't sure how Reagan would do, even though I knew she had the energy to complete the hike. She is just one to want to be held all the time. My fears were soon pushed aside as we head ed up the mountain. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time being outdoors and walking the trail. The trail was shorter than I remember, so we were there in no time. Reagan thoroughly enjoyed both throwing rocks and splashing around in the water. Jaxson loved climbing up the mountain and Madi spent her time taking pictures of everyone. At the top we all got out our doughnuts to celebrate our hike. This was the kids favorite part of the journey! Walking back down the mountain I couldn't help but soak in the nature around us. It was a beautiful sight, and I knew I had to start taking my kids on more adventures like this.

On Wednesday I took the kids to This Is The Place Heritage Park. This was only the second time I had ever been to the park. (The first being a month ago at Jaxson's school field trip) On Wednesday's you can get into the park for only $2.00 per person. This was a great value for all day entertainment, and we didn't even see half of the park. I know we will be going up there again before school starts, we all enjoyed it that much. While visiting the park we watched a few productions including the crazy Dr. Quackenbush and his phony potions, and the trial of a cow thief. The kids all got a shave from the barber, they stamped leather, sang at the school house and learned a fun game called Fox and Chickens. We rode the train and the ponies. (I've never seen Reagan smile so big, she was super excited to be riding the ponies.) While on the train she sang the Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Express song. We all participated in pioneer games and chores and even mined for gold. Quite an adventure for one afternoon.

Thursday morning Dan got up and made the family scones for breakfast! They were very tasty. We intended to make homemade ice cream, but the day came and went very quickly.

DEMOLITION DERBY

We had a great night at the demolition derby! This year proved to be even better than last year because there was no rain and the course was dryer - making it easier for the cars to get around. One of the vehicles even went over the cement barrier. Another lost its tire completely and a couple of cars got stuck together and continues driving that way in an effort to break apart. Once again our neighbor friends joined us. We even had Jared and Erin with us this year. What a fun outing with the family!

COOKING WEEK

I decided to make the most of the summer by creating theme weeks for my kids. I haven't been a full time mom for very long and I thought it would be fun to really spend some time with them while they were out of school for the next six weeks.

Our first theme of the summer is COOKING WEEK! We had a fabulous time over the past week cooking together. Monday morning we made chocolate zucchini bread and banana bread. This exercise really tried my patience as i sat back and let the kids put in the ingredients. Watching Jaxson crack an egg and seeing it smashed up his hand as he tried to pull it apart, took every ounce of strength I had not to just take over. Putting in the flour without making a mess had its own challenges. At the end of the day, our bread tasted wonderful. The kids did a great job preparing and eating our bread.

Tuesday we went on a tour of Mrs. Fields Cookie Factory. We all had to wear hair nets (We looked gorgeous!) Reagan did not want to put hers on, but by the end of the tour she didn't want to take it off. During our tour we learned many fascinating things about their production, including; 85% of their business comes during Christmas time. They go from a staff of 25 to 250 working seven days a week, from 5:00 AM to midnight. The cookie dough is shipped from California, they have huge ovens which produce about 55,000 nibblers per hour. The kids favorite part of the tour was stepping into the 11,000 foot freezer; which was 14 degrees below zero. They thought that was fascinating. At the end of our tour we all got free samples of Mrs. Fields Cookies.

Wednesday was National Chocolate Day, we started out the day by having a picnic in the park and then headed to the Sweet's Factory to see the production of several different types of candy made right here is SLC. Candy such as: Salt Water Taffy, Orange Sticks, Cinnamon Bears and Jelly Beans to name a few. We got to sample candy during the tour and at the end. We were able to visit their sweet shop and purchase some of our own candy to time home. During the tour we saw taffy being pulled wrapped and sorted. We had sugar coats being produced and how they mold candy with corn starch. They go through so much sugar that it is delivered every week. They have pipes throughout the building with sugar and chocolate pumping through them. Madison thought we should get a chocolate pipe at our house too. After the tour we decided to make chocolate suckers. We colored our white chocolate and made flowers, teddy bears and cars. After they were finished we delivered them around the neighborhood to our friends who went with us to the Sweets Factory tour.

Thursday morning we all got up and made breakfast pizza together. The kids formed the dough, grated the potato's and cheese, cut up the bacon and cracked and mixed the eggs. (Madison took over the eggs, which put me at ease.)

On Friday we started baking sugar cookies for National Sugar Cookie Day, the kids helped roll the dough and cut out the flower shapes; however ran out of time due to the other activities throughout the day. I had a birthday lunch with the girls from the neighborhood at Gardner Village, Jared and Erin were in town and we had a family reunion. So the cookie frosting had to wait until Saturday. This was a two step process due to a bridal shower I was hosting at the house. I frosted cookies before and after the shower. Madi helped with the decorating and sprinkles and all the kids got to decorate their very own cookie, imagine how beautiful they were and that is exactly how they looked. Despite there beauty - they were absolutely delicious!!!

4th OF JULY CELEBRATION

It seems as though we have been celebrating the 4th of July for days. We started our celebration by going to the Oakley rodeo on July 1st. We did this last year and had so much fun that we have decided to make it a family tradition. This year we took some friends of our with us (the Parker family). After the rodeo we spent a couple of days in Park City by renting a condo at the Canyons resort. Wow, it was beautiful to say the least and HUGE! What a great place to stay - I know we will be staying there again soon. We stayed up way to late that night playing card games (I felt like a teenager again going to bed at 2:00 in the morning). On Friday we took the gondola up the mountain and ate at the Red Pine Cafe. We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine. Reagan and Addison stayed on the patio because they were afraid if they went down the stairs the bears would get them. They were on the constant look out for bears! After lunch we threw around some Frisbees on their disc course and then headed back down the mountain for some pool time! Madison was kind enough to babysit the kids that night so us adults could go to Baja Cantina for dinner. The next morning we got ready to pack it in, but not before we visited the Utah Olympic Park and saw the FLYING ACES show! What a spectacular performance. The ski jumpers train here year round and practice their jumps in the pool. There were several Olympic Athletes that performed amazing tricks. At the end of the show Jaxson was lucky enough to be given a poster with all the autographs of the athletes. (Definitely the highlight of the trip for him.) He was ready to start ski jumping right then and there. That kid wants to do it all and would if he could. After the show we headed back down to South Jordan for a baptism of Jaxson's good friend Karter Jones. We spent the evening with several of our friends at Sandy City enjoying the parade, free concert, playing with glow sticks, dance jamming and watching fireworks.

Watch the video of one of the jumpers for the Flying Aces show...

PRINCESS AMERAH

I took Reagan to the West Jordan Library last week for story time. I had been looking forward to this particular story time because Reagan would get to dress up like a princess for story hour. Reagan loves dressing up like a princess and I knew she would be excited to go to the Library and see a princess too. As we were getting ready, I asked Reagan if she wanted to dress up like Belle. This is her newest costume and she loves wearing her yellow dress. She told me no (which surprised me) and said she wanted to dress up in her "gorilla" costume. I questioned her and responded by saying you don't have a "gorilla" costume. She said yes I do, I will go find it and show it to you. She came back into the bathroom with her "Cinderella" dress and said here it is!

The Library was a hit! Princess Amerah sang and danced with the kids. She told her story from a giant story book and even brought her puppy. At the end of the hour Reagan got her picture taken with the princess; however her favorite part was being able to pet her puppy.

BASEBALL 2010

I was so excited for baseball season this year (almost as excited as Jaxson was). Last year was such a good experience that we couldn't wait to be part of Kody and Scott's team again. As tryouts approach, I started having anxiety about Jaxson not getting to play on Kody's team, it even kept me up at night. Sure enough about a week after tryouts Kody gave us a call and all my fears were out to rest. Being on Kody's team meant he would play with several of the players from his last years team including Kaden, Tyler, Jacob and Karter. It is so much fun to watch these boys play; in addition to building the friendships that they do.

One of the things I love about Jaxson is he is always excited to play, it doesn't matter if it is practice or a game, he has a positive attitude and never complains. he looks forward to it all and can't wait until the next baseball event. If there is a day that goes by and there is no baseball, he is actually disappointed.

This year his team was the New York Mets! Jaxson played outfield most of the season; however did get to play 1st or 2nd base as few times, which he really enjoyed. Where Jaxson excels is batting. His coaches tell me he has great hand/eye coordination. He is never afraid to swing and hits the ball the majority of the time. He is not a power house hitter yet, but I know that will come with time. Jaxson was moved up to 2nd position in batting because of his consistency throughout the season when it came time to bat.

Sitting back and watching the games this year was a little difficult for me because of my competitive personality. Last year our team took 1st place and we never lost a game. This year was a different story, we moved up a league to Pee Wee Nationals and it is a whole new ball game. We learned a lot about the rules just watching the game, not only were the boys were allowed to steal bases (which was very exciting) we had to always pay attention and know when the ball was in play. Needless to say our team didn't take first and we lost about half of our games. The boys always had a good time regardless of the win or loss, which is one of the reasons the coaches are so important. I know it was hard for them to lose as well but they always wanted to know if they had fun because that was most important. They taught them several things this year including that if they struck out, they should do it swinging the bat and they would never be mad, not just to let the ball go by.

There were a lot of errors this year (they are young) however there were several outstanding plays as well. It is weird to think that Jaxson still has seven years to play ball before high school ball starts. That is a lot of time to learn and grow. Hopefully I will still enjoy it as much then as I do now.

At the end of the season we had a BBQ with our team and had a parents vs. Mets game at the park. The boys won; however the parents did have to hit the ball with the opposite hand, run backwards and we had to get three outs. It was a great time! The coaches all purchased trophy's for the boys as well to hold their games balls they received during the season. This is one of my favorite things Kody does, at the end of each game he pulls in the team for a pep-talk about their strengths and what they could improve upon. He then takes the opportunity to hand out the game ball to one of the players who impressed him during the game. Jaxson received the first game ball of the season because of his batting! He was so excited about getting the ball.

As the season was coming to a close, I received a phone call from Kody stating that All-Star tryouts were going to be the following Saturday and he thought that Jaxson had a pretty good chance of making the team. He encouraged him to try-out and told me that all stars were coach invitation only.

Jaxson and I headed to the baseball field again for try-outs, along with four others from his Mets team. I felt he did an amazing job at tryouts; he hit the ball well, we made several good catches, etc. At the end of the two hour tryout the all star coaches stated that everyone that tried out would make a team. Now we just hoped our Mets team would stay together, it would be weird to have the boys start playing against each other. To our surprise all five boys from the Mets were put on the same Bingham B team. What we weren't prepared for was the amount of time all stars was going to take. In the past it was one game; however moving up to the National league it was a whole different story. Jaxson had two hour practices pretty much every day, they were signed up for two tournaments, we had to pay an additional $100 and we had to check him out of school several times just to make the games; plus one of the tournaments was in Magna. Again Jaxson loved every minute of it! He especially loved his new Bingham uniform! For the next three weeks baseball ruled our lives - everything revolved around baseball and Jaxson. The first tournament went really well, the boys found their grove and had some stellar wins. One of the games ending score was Bingham 17 - Hunter 4. It was so exciting to watch them really play ball. Most of those runs came in one innings, Jaxson got up to bat twice in the same inning (which never happens). In tournament play there is a time limit, so we were all clenching our teeth because the inning kept going. If we didn't finish the inning the score would go back to the score from the following inner which was 3-3. Bingham prevailed with 14 runs that inning and then got 3 outs very quickly to end the game with 4 minutes to spare.

Jaxson again excelled in batting, during the entire tournament he struck out twice, which was in the last day of all stars. The state tournament was a little harder, we played some fantastic A teams and held our own. Our team even had a few home runs during the tournament, but in the end we lost. During the final day of the tournament Jaxson was up to bat with a very fast and accurate pitcher from the other team. He was hit in the chest by the ball and he immediately collapsed on the ground. We are lucky we was not seriously injured, I think he got the wind knocked out of him for sure. He was so tough and brave! He got up walked to base and scored for the team. What made me the most proud was that he was not afraid to get up and bat again. A lot of kids back away or shy away from the ball after they are hit, not my Jaxson! He didn't back up at all and hit the ball again. I was a very proud mom that day! (He ended up with a bruise on his chest from where he was hit)

All-stars ending was bitter sweet! It was great to be able to extend the season a little longer; however it will give us time to actually do some other things.

Jaxson has started a love of baseball in our entire house, he has everyone playing catch with him including myself and his sister Madi. We have all purchased gloves and have starting playing some fun ball together as a family.