He is Here!

Sweet baby Daxton has arrived! He weighs 7lbs 4oz and is 19 inches long. Dax is such a cuddly, happy baby and we cannot get enough of him!

Flag Football

Coleton played Flag Football this fall. I really was not excited for him to play but he wanted to so bad. For some reason the whole football thing stresses me out. Maybe because he is so little and maybe because I know what the time commitment can be, but for some reason I just don't want to do the whole football thing. Anyway, this was actually fun. Coleton of course loved it and he was really good especially at pulling flags. He played with a bunch of his friends from school and that made it fun as well!

Halloween Festivities

We had a fun Halloween this year with all of our traditional festivities. Carving pumpkins, pumpkin stew, homemade root beer, trick or treating with our good friends, pajamas at grandmas along with trading candy with the cousins. This year the cousins made their pj shirts over fall break. It was fun to see how different they all turned out. I loved Easton's. He insisted his said "I am very hungry." Random...yes but oh so smart. He thought he could wear it trick or treating so people would give him more candy. Man he keeps me on my toes!

Family Time

Over the last little while we have been able to sneak away from everyday "real" life and enjoy each other a bit. One Saturday afternoon, we decided we needed to get away so we drove up to Brighton and walked around a little lake. (I totally forgot what it is called, but it was a neat little place.) I love to just hang back and watch the kids explore and enjoy the small, simple things in life. It makes me feel happy:) It seems like all 3 of these kids are overflowing with personality and I love to just watch it come bubbling out of them when we are together as a family. We have Hailey who is so sure of herself and I am convinced she knows just about everything about every animal on the planet. We would read the little signs around the lake that would tell about different animals and then she would go into more detail, and more detail, and more detail. We have little Coleton who just goes with the flow but interjects his hilarious little comments all the time. The positive way he views everything is amazing to me. Someday I am going to be like that! Then there is Easton who could only slow down to look around if he was in the lead. He needs to be in charge of the situation at all times. He talks to everyone. The whole way around the lake he would stop to talk to whomever we passed, and every time he started the conversation with..."guess what?.....

We also went to the corn maze one evening. I laughed the whole time. Easton again...in the lead. Coleton just doing whatever he felt like at the second, and Hailey trying to analyze every turn and then making a decision that she was totally sure of! I just hung back, held John's hand and loved every second of it.

Soccer

Easton played his first season of soccer. I was a little surprised he didn't love it. He would talk to the ref and push the buttons on the refs timer instead of playing some of the time, but we are calling it a success. A few times the other teams coaches seamed a little loud to Easton, so he would walk up to the other coach and ask them why they weren't cheering for his team as well. By the end of the season he was getting it a bit. He thought the trophy was pretty neat at least!

Brigham City Temple Open House

We were lucky enough to get tickets to visit the Brigham City Temple during the open house. It is a beautiful temple and we all loved the pioneer feel to it. Easton has begged to go to the temple for a long time so he was excited to go in and see. The little white booties threw him off a bit but he loved the temple and insists on calling it a castle. It was a fun night to spend together as a family.

My boys and their silly smiles. At least Hailey was willing to block my growing belly!!!

Back to Reality!

All of the kids are back in school and back to their fall schedules. It feels busy! Hailey is in 5th grade, Coleton in 2nd and Easton is finishing up preschool. All of the kids are doing well and really liking school. Hailey has started piano and is continuing on with swimming and tumbling. Coleton is playing flag football and will start swimming again when that is over because the times conflict and Easton is playing soccer. With as busy as John's schedule is and then the normal things like homework, no wonder I feel tired:)

Hailey and her BFF

Coleton and his Best Buddy

Our Lazy Summer

I hope my kids remember this summer. I know chances are they won't, but I am pretty sure they will never have one just like it again. With as awful as I have felt, we have had plenty of time to just be lazy, ride bikes, play with friends in the neighborhood, and sit under the trees eating pop-cycles. It has been simple yet so what we all needed! To be totally fair, it wasn't all fun and games, just mostly :) We did do chores, read a lot of books (I had to put a time limit on the time sweet Hailey could read:), and even did math worksheets and a few science projects. We hiked to Donut Falls, camped in the backyard, enjoyed family up at East Canyon, roasted marshmallows, played at parks, and had sibling sleepovers. One of our favorites places to be..grandmas! We spent lots of time swimming with cousins...

The two older kids joined a swim team and Easton took swimming lessons. My kids really LOVE to be in the water! They participated in a swim meet, luckily each of the kids won at least 1 gold medal. (I hate it when one of the kids feels bad because of the success of another!)

We braved Lagoon not once but twice, and I took 2 pictures. Nice! (I did puke in a Lagoon toilet. Totally disgusting!) After that Easton and I went to the car and watched movies while I continued to puke in bags and John and the other two kids finished up on the "big kid" rides in the dark. Sweet Easton never complained and just kept saying, "I am so sorry you are sick mommy!" :) Memories!

And we went to the zoo. We loved the new exhibit. My kids could have watched the River Otters, Seals and Sea Lions for hours!

I am not sure that any of us are ready for the school schedule yet, but ready or not, here it comes!