September 7th

12th Anniversary

I love this boy!  He is drawn to music!  Will groove with any tune he hears.

Oh Happy Day!  We added a new skill to our drinking abilities!

He wants my smoothies now

Loved his puckered lips

Figured out the straw

Back to School

 Big Hollow Elementary

2nd Grade Teacher: Mrs. Paz

Favorite

Movie: Wreck It Ralph

Book: Stick Dog by: Tom Watson

Food:  Sausage

Restaurant:  Chili's for the chips and salsa

Candy: Reeses

Game app:  Plants vs Zombies

Activity:  play on his kindle fire

Sport:  Basketball 

First Day of School

Back to School

Big Hollow Elementary

4th grade Teacher: Mrs. Christensen

Favorite

Movie: Harry Potter movies

Book: Percy Jackson series and Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan

Food:  Ribs

Restaurant:  Chili's or Applebee's

Candy: Dark chocolate i.e. Mounds or Hersey's 

Game app:  Clash of Clans

Activity:  Read or draw

Sport:  Basketball or Football

Happy Birthday Roman

AUGUST 17th

ROMAN PAUL 1st Birthday

You wish you could wake up on your birthday rocking this shirt style!!  So funny to go get Roman from his crib and find him like this! Good morning birthday boy!

We celebrated Roman's 1st birthday by going out to lunch and taking all the boys to see Despicable Me 2 in the movie theater.  It was hilarious and the boys loved it.

At Jewel if you order one 6" or lager single layer cake you can get a double layer 5" cake for free!  Two cake for less then 7 bucks?  Sold!  This is what Roman's cakes turned out like.  Blue and

green.  Good boy colors!

We gave Roman the 5" cake to destroy all by himself!  He started out all nice and slow....then went all out HULK style!!  Hilarious!

Roman is such a sweet, easy going baby!  He loves being around his older brothers and can hold his own ground when they try and take anything away from him.  He has a special place for his daddy and snuggles with him all the time.  When Nate arrives home from work, Roman bee lines it to the door and grabs Nate's legs grunting telling him that he wants his dad to pick him up.  After Nate does grab him, Roman usually turns to me and gives a sly grin like "Ha, he's mine and I get his hugs he he he"

Oh he hit the sugar rush wall!  His face cracks me up!  I can't get enough him! Happy birthday my little boy!

On our way HOME

We headed back to Idaho for a few more days there before my boys and I hit the road again.  So why not go burn some energy at iJump until then!!  Mom treated us all to 2 hours of jumping, bouncing, dodge ball throwing and foam pit diving!  The kids loved it!!  My Aunt Joni and her kiddos came too, which made more fun for a good dodge ball game.  I highly recommend this place to either get some good fun, exercise or blow off some stem with a dodge ball duel with who ever you might be frustrated with! ha ha ha good for the soul... laughter!!

This is my brother Max holding Roman at Ryder's birthday party that we had before we left on our California trip.  Max started giving bites of the birthday cake and won Roman over instantly!  

 Look at this cheeser!!  I love this stage of kids!  A cute little person who finds everything funny and can make everyone around them crack a smile and laugh with them!  It's their own baby super power!  Cuteness




So we had to say our goodbyes and tackle the long drive back to Illinois.  I am grateful for the time we are able to visit and when we do have to leave, it's usually the time when I start thinking on the next time we can come back again for another go around! It's a good two days drive to get us back home and we left around four in the morning.  I woke my boys up and got them into the car all nice and comfy, well as comfy as a seat belted person can be, and we start out.  The boys get to go back to sleep and I blast through six hours of driving until we can spot a McDonald's for some breakfast.  And we must be super lucky because we just happen to stop at the one McDonald's that Ronald McDonald is visiting for the morning!!  He was hilarious and when I asked if we could get a picture he said "Why sure!  You know this is going to be your new Christmas card for the year!"  And then he actually jumped and landed in his picture taking pose and we all scooted in!  Roman was not impressed with this guys white painted face and let him know it with big "I'm scared of you" tears!  Clay thought it was all cheesy, Hayden found it all funny, and Justin was still in a daze and was looking for "sausage, eggs, and pancakes!"


Back on the road again.  We had a few more breaks, but made it to our hotel in Nebraska before 7 pm.   I had the boys take baths and get ready for bed, then we all ate Chinese food in our jammies while we watched some cartoons.  Everyone was in bed by 8:30 pm and I tried to get some good rest to be ready for the rest of the drive the next day. Roman apparently didn't get that memo!  He had a hard time falling asleep.  I made him a bed on the floor with the big comforter from the beds and surrounded it with pillows, but he bonked his head once when he rolled over too fast or something and was not a happy camper.  He finally got back to sleep close to 10 but that only lasted until 3:00 when he woke up crying and I discovered he had a bad blown out diaper.  Bath time for Roman.  My original plan was to be out of the hotel by 7 am and I knew it was going to take Roman awhile to get back to sleep after taking a bath, so after Roman was cleaned and dressed again, I packed everything up, loaded the car, and put all my sleeping babes in their seats.  We were on the road again at 4 am.  Roman instantly went to sleep in his car seat and everyone else practically slept walked to the car and were now zonked out again too.  I don't mind driving in the morning hours.  I actually prefer it to  night time driving.  I wear contacts and driving hours and hours at night in the dark really hurts my eyes.  I was almost giddy that I would be getting home a lot sooner than I had originally told Nate.  Thanks to Roman we were now on track to be home before dinner and could go out as a family together!!  I'd say blessing in disguise for sure.

  A funny thing happened when we stopped for lunch.  We were in Iowa and there was a ton of construction going on.  I told the boys as soon as I saw a good place to turn off the interstate we would.  It was a least an hour after I said that, when the golden double arch of McDonald's beamed ahead.  I wasn't really in the mood for McDonald's but we were pulling over.  Everyone got out of the car and I bustled them in.  Right when you enter this McDonald's you are in the ordering line, so I was making sure none of my boys had crowded and was steering them all to get a booth when a lady that I had past by not even really looking at her just trying to herd my crew about, said "Lacey?"  I looked up and there before me stood a lady from my very own ward!!  "Shelly?  What are you doing here?!"  She told me that she was traveling back from Salt Lake with her son and two dogs in her car.  She also told me it was really funny that we saw each other because they were not planning on eating in the restaurant and were just going to go through the drive thru, since they didn't want to leave the dogs in the car, but she had to come in to use the restroom!!  Oh my goodness, it is a small world some times!!  Had a good chat with her for a few minutes and then we each went our own way.  Lunch was our last stop and we arrived back to our own home even before Nate was home from work!  Vacations are always a blast and are to be cherished.  They also make you glad to be back home and back to your own bed!  After all that driving I slept good that night!

Birthday Buffet

Birthday Buffet

So the last day of our time in California landed on my birthday July 27th!  I had received a text message and phone call from Nathan first thing which made my day.  We had a full day of driving ahead of us and it was smooth sailing for the most part, except for my Roman who was not feeling good and threw up in the car three times.  He had a little bug or something.  No fever, but he didn't have an appetite and was having a hard time getting to sleep.  Of course, when I am not the one driving and I am with my Dad he sees signs of how diving with kids can be hard, and was starting to worry about my trip back to Illinois since I would be taking on that 24hrs drive by myself.  My kids are great travelers but this was just not Roman's day, poor thing.

 But again HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.....BUFFET!!  Since we were traveling through Las Vegas anyway my Dad pulled on into the new ARIA HOTEL and treated us all to their buffet!  One slight problem happened when we were standing in the nice velvety roped off section for the buffet.  Roman who had seemed on the mend decided this was the perfect time to throw up all over the front of me, getting some down the back of my shirt and soaking himself in the process.  YUCK!!  I went under the nice velvety ropes and threw Emily Roman's blanket so she could mop up the floor for me.  Some women said "Not the blanket!" in the back ground, but she was the lest of my worries and I have back up blankets in the car. So out to find a bathroom and then go change in the car.  Good thing we are here with packed suitcases huh.  Of course the nearest bathroom was on the first level and I was currently on the third so down the escalators we went.  Once in the bathroom I had to strip Roman down to his diaper and rinse both of us off.  Then another problem presented itself.  I had nowhere to put all this throw upity clothes and the now really yucky blanket Emily brought back to me.  Hmmm I wonder if this hotel is a good as our church is and leaves a roll of garbage bags in the bottom of the garbage.  Score! One beautiful big black garbage bag to hold all these nasty clothes.  I still can remember all the funny looks I got walking past the high roller tables with a naked baby besides his diaper and a big black garbage bag over my shoulder.  Classy right?  I had to take an elevator to where our car was parked and a nice family joined me in the elevator.  They gave Roman and me a certain look which made me say, "He isn't feeling very well, and threw up.  We are getting more clothes right now."  The husband responded by saying, "Oh, well there's probably a lot of that going on around here."  I said "Yeah probably, at least his isn't self inflicted huh."  They all laughed pretty good at that one.  Roman was giving me smiles and acting normal so I think whatever was bugging him, he had gotten it all out.  And the big black garbage bag full of clothes can prove that.  Emily came out and was going to sit in the car with Roman so I could go enjoy the buffet.  I told her no Roman was looking lots better and we all could be there together.  I even had to force a "Emma Jean it's my birthday and your coming, now come on lets eat!"  Roman really was fine after that and actually feel asleep while we were sitting eating our hearts out!

I went for the prime rib and pre-sliced crab legs first and a few more times after that!  HEAVEN!!  

Even with the problems erupting throughout the drive and velvety waiting line it was a great birthday treat and I loved sharing it with family.  

DISNEYLAND 2013

DISNEYLAND 2013

 We went to DISNEYLAND!!!  The place where magic happens!  I so turn into a kid coming here and rightly so.  Our original plan was to for each family to pay our own way except for 2 tickets that my parents wanted to get for us.  Little did we know that my Mom and Dad had plans of their own.  whaaawwwhahaa...evil laugh.  Once we all parked our cars together, Dad swooped in like a hawk and paid for our entire crew to go to DISNEYLAND!!  WHAT?!?  Our parents have hearts of GOLD!!  They probably had to chip a piece of that gold off their hearts since Disney is EXPENSIVE!!  How lucky we are to be in this family!  We all made sure we bought any food or some of Disney's famous Dole Whips that Mom and Dad could want for the whole day!  Which doesn't even come close to what they did for all of us, but we wanted to give our thanks in a small way still.  Love Them!  

Jessa and I showing off our entrance passes!  She looks gorgeous and I have some sort of cheesy grin on my face like I am chewing too much gum or something!  Oh well.

Before we left I made a few projects for our day at Disneyland.  Some new t-shirts for my boys and autograph books I made for each grandkid in our crew.  Super fun.

First character we saw was PLUTO!  He was hilarious signing the kids autograph books with his paws over his eyes.  Right after this picture with us posing next to PLUTO, Roman started whaling!  I think he touched PLUTO'S fur and did not like it for some reason!  ha ha ha

Next was MICKEY MOUSE!  Sophie was saving us a spot with miss Quincy to see MICKEY and we ran on over!  Hopefully everyone else knew we were all together and we that we weren't just crowding.  The Awe of MICKEY MOUSE is FABULOUS!! 

Aunt Sophie with Justin Ron.  Justin was soaking up all Disney has to offer.  His happy face when he met a new Disney Character was priceless.  He loved the Peter Pan Ride and was not a fan of the wicked witch in the Snow White and seven dwarfs.  She was a bit creepy, and popping out at you multiple times.  He was ready for a good nice Dumbo ride after that one!

Waiting in line for the Peter Pan Ride.....We could Fly ....We could Fly....We Flew!!!

Look at this bunch of excited kids!! 

Oh yeah, we're at Disney uhh huh!! 

Peeps who are up up and away on Dumbo...Trent & Ryder...Clay & Eli ... Brooklyn & Hayden & Landon

STAR WARS!! Darth Maul came right up to Hayden pointing his finger and sneering!  Hayden didn't even flinch...Bring it Dark Side

Princess AURORA

PRINCESS ARIEL
Roman cracks me up with his split legs!

PRINCESS CINDERELLA

PRINCESS RAPUNZEL

I have to say my absolute favorite ride is SPACE MOUNTAIN!!  It was Hayden's favorite too!  I literally had my arms up the entire ride laughing so hard my eyes were watering!  Ahh good stuff!

Hayden is my roller coaster man!  He wanted to go on everything.  Here he is with my brother-in-law Joe, his kids, Landon, Eli and Brooklyn!  Love all their faces!

The only hiccup we had all day was the many little discussions I had with my Clay.  Clay has been on many rides, roller coasters, water park slides etc. in the past, but for some reason he has decided he does NOT like them now and will NOT go on any.  I mean any substantial rides as in big roller coasters.  Medium and small fun rides he has no problem like Dumbo or Peter Pan.  It's the high ones and possibly fast ones that he starts to over think and makes things seem worse than they are.  So he is not a fan of heights which is the main contributor to his reluctance.  I overheard him talking to his Grandpa Ron the day before Disney asking him if he was afraid of anything.  He told him he hated snakes and Clay told him he was scared of heights and those two had a nice heart to heart talk.  I get that he might not want to go on any big big rides and I wouldn't force him too, but we went through topics like "these ones aren't even high", "They make these rides FOR KIDS", "You have to try it, we are at Disneyland" "I will be with you the whole way"  etc.  He didn't even fully hear the discussions.  He kept saying "No, I'm not going" along with shaking his head to make sure his point was taken.  I was frustrated.  He would love these smaller rides if he would just try them.  He had been on way bigger ones before and came off them like he was a superstar so his apprehension now had me confused.  I finally got to a point where I said "Yes, you ARE going on Pirates of the Caribbean!  They let me take Roman sitting on my lap so my 9 year old CAN and WILL go!"  I was pulling the mean mom card for the moment.  He had the worse face on ever, and the whole time we waited in line he was hounding me about the ride and how it was going to be.  He needed to get through this on his own so I said "We' ll see in a bit huh"  He didn't like me very much right then.  While we were on the ride I watched as his face changed from that of a scare apprehensive boy to one who was loving being on a boat, surrounded by his cousins, pointing at all the pirates and treasure!  He exited with a full beaming smile on his beautiful face!  He went on the Indiana Jones ride after that and was needed to be coaxed a bit again for the Matterhorn Bobsled.  "I will be with you the whole time, we will ride together"  followed by Clays excuses, arguments, apprehensive silence, and my level of patience totally spent.  The craziest part is that after he did in fact go on the Matterhorn Bobsled ride, he yelled from his seat behind me "That was too SHORT!! Landon, wasn't that awesome?  It was so fast I loved it!"  I was speechless and for a moment wanted to shake him out of frustration, but he went, found out he could love it, and by the end of the night we were best pals along with him admitting he should have tried them sooner and told me sorry.  I wasn't looking for a apology I just wanted him to have a great time at Disneyland and not regret sitting on the sidelines.  So proud he was able to overcome something that was hard for him, and in the end I was happy he was brave enough to do it for himself!

I absolutely LOVE parades and fireworks!!  And you know Disney can put on a show!!  Fireworks, music, lights, Disney characters.......MAGIC!

There is also magic that happens once you get back to your vehicle....instant zonked out kiddos!!
Fun full day of DISNEY MEMORIES!