Sweet Success!

When Jace was born he was a husky little thing. He weighed in at 9 lbs 5 oz and to this day we tease him that 9 lbs of him was his cheeks.

Well, he's pretty much kept those adorable chubby cheeks for most of his childhood.... until about 6 months ago. In the last 6 months Jace has had a major growth spurt. He's grown about 6 inches and his cute little chubby cheeks (and body) started to disappear. I've been watching my little boy grow into a young man in front of my very eyes.
Jace has played football for the past several years. In football, there is a weight limit. If you weigh more than the limit, you can only play the line because they don't want bigger kids crushing tiny kids. So Jace has played the line for the past few years. This year, Jace decided that he really wanted to play a different position- one that he has to be under the weight limit for.
So he came to us before football started and told us that he wanted to make weight and felt like he could. It would mean he would have to lose about 12 lbs in about 5 weeks. I didn't like the idea too much, but he was soooooo determined. So we told him we would help him but only if he did it healthy. No crazy crash diets. So we came up with a plan

THE KID IS A MACHINE!!!!

I am so totally amazed by his motivation and will power. He ran at least 2 miles a day, and ate 6 times a day. No sugar, no pop, and very low fat. He has eaten more fish in the last month than most people eat in a lifetime.

Well weigh ins were on Monday, and I'm proud to announce that he made it! While he and Wade were at the weigh in, I ran to Sams Club and bought him one of those yummy chocolate bundt cakes. It was # 1 on his list of things he wanted to eat after he made weight. We were planning on taking him to dinner and then coming home to the cake. But when he got home and saw it, he asked if he could have a little piece of it before we went to dinner.

I couldn't resist- it was a priceless moment!

SWEET SUCCES!!

As Good As It Gets!!

Our family LOVES traditions. One of our favorites is our yearly trip to Palisade Park. For me, the main thing that makes this trip so much fun is that my family, most of Wade's family, and a lot of Stef's (my sis-in-law) family comes. Each year it seems there is a few more of us. I love it!! We have an absolute riot. I have come to realize how incredibly blessed and lucky we are to have such great, supportive, fun families. I love being with every single one of them!
I took so many pics, I couldn't decide which ones to post, so Shay came over and showed me how to do collages. I learn slowly but surely.

As soon as we get there the kids are in the water. Moms are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get life jackets on everyone. As soon as we do, we are in the water too! Between the canoe, the party barge, and all of our floaties we pretty much own that lake!

Wade got a wind surfer for the trip this year. It was a new challenge and many took it on, even though it only gets windy for about a half hour in the afternoon. Still fun!

Chad & Stef set up a volleyball net in the middle of all the trailers. It was a blast!

The teenagers learned a game called "Ninja Strike" while they were at EFY. They taught everyone how to play. I never did catch on but it was fun to watch.



Oh, how the kids love to catch creatures. Pollywogs, frogs, lizards, and yes Jordan is holding a dead muskrat. He claims it was attacking him in the water so he killed it with some kids oar (the poor kid is probably traumatized for life). Jordan called it his ROUS. And it was hideous!

In between all of the above activities, we spent time eating, digging lazy rivers for all the creatures to play in, napping, and visiting.

One of the nights we are there, we usually go to a pizza place in Ephraim called Roys (aka Fat Jacks). Well this year they were closed for the 24th so we had to find another place. We went to the Pizza Gallery. All 40 of us walk in to find out that there are only 2 teenage girls working and they looked a bit panicked. The guys asked them if they wanted help and surprisingly they said yes. They started out just doing smoothies and pop, but before long they were making pizzas, serving salads, and calling out orders. It was hilarious. I think those poor girls were happy when we finally left.

Poor Sara. She has had quite a challenge with her braces. For some reason, she has some kind of allergic reaction when she goes to the orthodontist. She thought it was fixed after they took the nickel braces off and put on porcelain. But.... she went to the ortho the day before our trip and woke up to a mouth full of canker sores the next day when we left. And when I say a mouthful I am not exaggerating. This picture does not do it justice. She was such a trooper. She hung in there and made sure everyone was having fun. I wish you could see her face in the pic of us playing cards. That was her permanent expression on this trip. And we all have a new vocabulary from Sara not being able to pronounce her words without whincing.


BFF's

I love that all the cousins get along, no matter what the age difference. On this trip Marquie, Shenay, and Livvy were the 3 musketeers and they loved every minute of it!

Chris, Chad, Wade, & Shayne are training for a couple of triathlons coming up. They swam the lake every day in preparation. This picture cracks me up with all their garb on. So goofy!

The only bad thing about this trip is that when it's over I feel the same as I do the day after Christmas. So bummed it's over already. But hey, there's always next year- and I can't wait!!!!

It's All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses a Tooth!

Well, I am always the slowest to update my blog, so most of you have already heard this story from Sara's or Shayla's blog, but I still had to do it. I actually got the event on the camcorder but I don't know how to put it on, and I don't know if Shay would want me to.

Anyway, we were having a water fight on the 4th of July, and we got a little carried away, and some of my sisters teeth got knocked out (that's for you Sara).

Poor Shayla! She got konked with that pot she's holding (which is really the dog's water dish which makes it even worse). In the bag is half of her tooth. She ended up having to have a root canal on it. We're still waiting to see if the other tooth will re-root or if she's gonna lose that one too. She is quite a trooper. She even came back for fireworks after a couple hours at the dentist!

But here are some of the brighter pics of the day:

The traditional neighborhood parade. Chris, me, Austin, my mom, Shay & Pais, & Denise

Sawyer, Trevor, and Makenna

This year there were games at the end of the parade. Woohoo!
Halee & Shandra

Makenna & Sadie

Jace getting an American Flag painted on his face

Back to Bams for the big BBQ. Here are the teenagers filling up water balloons.

Keisha (our next door neighbor), Marquie, Dallas, Shenay, & Jordan (his hair is coming in nicely, don't you think?)

Mid-water fight. Sara, Gracie, Shay, Shayne, & Trev

Getting ready to watch the firework show. Denise, Sadie, Shayla with a numb face, Me, Sara

Sparklers!! Shenay, Dallas, Livvy, Chris, & Mak

A little more eventful than years past, but still, the 4th is the best!

Boys Will Be Boys... Right?

Lets talk about Jordan. To know him is to love him. If you know him, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, you are truly missing out on some quality entertainment.
Jordan is such a free spirit. He is energetic, adventurous, curious, hilarious, impulsive, fun, independent, and very wild and crazy. He has the ability to make me laugh and want to kill him at the same time. Most of the time I love this about him. Sometimes it stresses me out.


Lets talk about Jordans friends (aka: The Main Men). I LOVE these guys. They are the cutest, funnest, nicest, best group of boys I know. All but 2 of them (Jordan & Jared) graduated from High School this year, so they decided to go on a trip to St. George this past week to celebrate.

Top: Seth, Jordan, Jon, Richard, Jared, Sitting: Cody & Rambo

Well, they thought their trip would be more exciting if they sported some crazy hairdo's for the week, so they each thought up a crazy design...


and out came the clippers.

Whoa! They called Jordan "Father" all week- I wonder why. How do you like his pants pulled up over his bellybutton?

These pictures don't do them justice, but I didn't have time to put all the close-ups on.

Side view- I wonder what people thought when they saw these guys coming their way-haha.

I was so worried Jordan's head would get sunburned and then his hair wouldn't grow back. He said he plastered it with sun screen every day

Cody, Jordan, & Richard



I told Jordan that he definitely picked the "worst" one and he said "You mean the "best" one mom. When he first sent me the picture on my phone I just about wet my pants.

Anyway, I decided it's either laugh or cry. Hair grows back, and when it comes down to it, they could be doing a lot worse, right? (Please tell me I'm right).

We do have a family picture tonight with my whole side of the family. I think in time it will be one of my favorites:) You gotta love the kid!!!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Just a few pics from our Disneyland trip. I can't believe it's already over:(

It's funny how things change over the years. Our kids weren't nearly as excited as they were the last time we went (except Makenna). At least they didn't seem to be. Maybe it had to do with having to get up at 5 am the morning we left:)


Wade having the time of his life on the tea cups.


Me, Makenna, Marquie, and good 'ol Mickey


California Adventure seems to have more rides that the teenagers like, so we spent a lot of time there. Last time we came, Makenna went on Tower of Terror and swore she would never do it again. Well we talked her into it- we thought she would like it now that she's a few years older. Big mistake. She hated it! I have never seen anyone so terrified. It was hilarious.

I can't remember where this was taken. Anyone know? Cute though.

Wade & I riding the tram where this humungous creature landed on my hand. I screamed louder than Makenna did in Tower of Terror.

By the time evening came on our first day, we were exhausted (because of the 5 am thing). The teenagers were ready to go to the hotel, but Makenna still wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was clear over on the other side of the park, but....

she got her way! Someone forgot to tell the teenagers that this is the happiest place on earth!!



On Saturday we took a break from the parks and went to Huntington Beach. It was fabulous. I think the kids may have liked it more than Disneyland.

After playing on the boogie boards in the water, we played volleyball on the beach and then went for a walk on the pier. There's a Ruby's Diner at the end of the pier so we stopped and had onion rings and shakes. Anyone who's ever been to a Ruby's Diner knows how yummy that was.

So I saved the best for last. In my opinion, to have the best Disneyland experience ever, you have to partake of all the yummy (but way too expensive) treats there. So we made a list of all the things we wanted to eat before the trip ended:

Frozen bananas and frozen lemonade

Churros

Carameled apples

Marquie and her warm toasted almonds

And our favorite: tortillas from the Mission tortilla factory. They were closed the first day. The second day they were only serving corn tortillas- they're okay. Finally on the last day we got our scrumptious warm flour tortillas. We could go home happy!

And we did!!