Halloween 2009

Here is Cora on her first Halloween. She was our little lady bug. I loved this costume and she did not seem to mind it so it worked out really well.

Jace had to be Cars for Halloween. I kept trying to talk him into being something else (something cute/cool). He was dead set on a Cars costume. Oh well...what do you do?

Casen was Anakin from Star Wars. He is really into Star Wars right now so this costume is very fitting. I don't know what is up with the cheesy smile. Ha ha.

CornBellys

This weekend our family went to CornBellys. It was so much fun.......Here are some pictures.

Our Family (on the farm)

Playing in the Corn

Thad and Skip trying to show of their skills.

You can see Cora's first tooth

Ciara and Casen jumping

Daddy and Cora

Our little family

Here are my Parents and Ciara.

We made a train (yes Cora and I are in there...We fell down so you cant see us)

Jace

Cora....6 Months Old

Cora is 6 months old today. Wow how time has gone by fast. She was a newborn yesterday and today she is this baby with a personality. It is so much fun.
At 6 months Cora is able to smile, giggle, and play with her brothers. She recently learned how to really jump in her jumper (video below). She can also sit for a few seconds without support. I think this will be mastered very soon. I love my baby girl!

Lagoon

We have gone to Lagoon with my family a couple of times over the past few weeks. It has been a lot of fun. My kids are so brave and love rides. Here are just a couple of pictures.

Here is Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkids

My boys The Michigan Fans!

Here is my brother, Brady, and the boys getting soaking wet.

Family Pictures 2009

We had family pictures done a few weeks ago. Our friend Suzi was so sweet and took these for us. We absolutely love them. These are just a few of the great pictures she took. Thanks Suzi...You are the best.

Jace started preschool!

Jace started preschool last week. I can not even believe he is old enough to go to school. He was very excited to go to school with his big brother. Lucky for us, his preschool is at Casen's elementary school. Jace absolutely loves school. He thinks he should be able to go five days a week like his big brother, not just two days a week. I think school will be great for Jace.

Casen's first day of 1st Grade

Casen just started 1st Grade. He was very excited to start school and has really enjoyed the first couple of weeks.

Were moved!

We have been in Utah for almost a month now. It has been a very busy time....but it is now starting to calm down. I have a lot to blog about and will have to catch up over the next little while.

We decided to rent a home in Herriman (pictured above) for the next year. We rented this house without even seeing it. We just viewed pictures online. For the most part I really like our house. There are things I would change but I think it will be great for the next year while Skip finishes up school.

Skip had two weeks off from school when we moved. It was very good he did because we spent time with our family the first week and then spent the entire second week unpacking. Man we have a lot of stuff. Those of you that helped us load or unload the trailer can testify to that. I want to thank everyone who helped in our great move. It was much more work, with some unforeseen complications (Jace), than we thought it would be. I love everyone who gave us support and helped us.

Skip is now a couple of weeks into his first rotation, at Jordan Valley Hospital, and loving it. It keeps him pretty busy. But I think its about to get busier because Skip just accepted a job offer from Walgreens. He will be doing 40 hours/week of school rotations and probably working 20 hours/week. I guess I am going to see kind of what it is like to be a single mom haha.

Our family is doing great! I am going to start updating my blog.......Stay Tuned!

Jace's 3rd Birthday

Yesterday was Jace's 3rd Birthday. We started the birthday celebration by having a party on Saturday. We invited a few of his friends for cupcakes, a pinata, and fun at the park. Jace had so much fun. Here are a few pictures of the party.

We then spent yesterday celebrating with our little family. We took him to Target and let him buy stuff with his birthday money (he bought Disney's Cars stuff) he was so excited. We then had his favorite dinner, grilled cheese sandwiches (I got off easy, Ha Ha). After dinner we went to the park and played baseball with some friends. It was a great day!

Happy Birthday Jace!!

July 4, 2009

We had a great 4th of July. We went to a BBQ on the Beach with a bunch of our friends. It was such a nice day. The kids played in the sand, swam, played with trucks, etc. etc. The adults spent the day socializing and eating (way yummy food!). I want to thank Levi and Suzi for putting this great BBQ together. It was so much fun.

Here is a picture of the family (after a day of playing).

Here is a close up of Cora (and Mom).

After a day of playing at the beach we went to our friends Matt and Michelle's house for a firework show. It was great.....Thanks guys!!

Worst Day Ever!!!

So it all started at about 4 am when I woke up because of the storm. The kids, of course, had woken up and were scared because of the storm. So we went into the kids rooms to go back to sleep.
Then I got up around 7 am and started getting ready for the day because I had a dr. appointment this am. I left my house around 9 for my appointment (alone, thank goodness). It was pouring rain outside. As I started driving I noticed there was a lot of standing water on the roads. The rain gutters were full and so water did not seem to be draining. As I approached one intersection there was so much water that everyone was turning around and going another way....I did the same. I then called Skip and told him the roads were really bad and I was nervous driving. Like he always does he reassured me that I would be fine. So I kept driving. I had driven past the YMCA and the Zoo on W38th Street for those of you who know where that is. I then was going down the hill to Glenwood St. There was standing water in the intersection, but other cars were going through it so I thought it will be fine. I waited up higher where there was not as much water and was waiting for the light to turn green. ****There were a few things that I know now that I didn’t know then***It was pouring rain and the visibility was really low. The river just next to this intersection had begun overflowing on to the streets and was getting really bad really fast. As the light turned green I just barely started to go when water rushed up and over the hood of my car. The engine/windows/lights/ etc. all immediately went out.
I was kind of panicking because the car had stalled so I call Skip...I was only on the phone with him for a second before water started rushing in at my feet. I told him to call 911 (funny that I called him and told him to call 911, I don’t think you think very clearly in situations like this, he told me to hang up with him and to call.) I called 911. One scary thing is how long it took them to pick up. I guess all of Erie was flooding and there were tons and tons of calls pouring into 911. I tell them that my car is not working and is flooding. I was told to remain in my car....scary....The current was really strong and so they told me to no mater what stay in my car. By this time there is an unmarked cop car, with a light thrown up on top, up on higher ground and he is waving to me. I am trying to figure out how this is suppose to make me feel better having this cop who is so far away waving at me....What is he going to do when my car is completely full of water. 911 tells me fire trucks are on there way...I am totally freaking out at this point. Water is to about my knees, while sitting in my car. The firemen get there and have to put all there safety measures in place before coming after me. About five firemen then get to my door. They have to get the car door open because windows and nothing else is working. Finally they get my door open....as water is rushing in to fill the car....they grab me.
I am then taken to the fire truck on higher ground. They leave me in the truck to go rescue other people. There are five cars in the same situation in the same intersection. They had gotten me first because my car was filling the fastest. Other people were then brought to the fire truck. One interesting thing is that while I was sitting alone in the fire truck I could hear the radios the whole time.....it was things such as "man attempted to exit car at this intersection...is now completely in the water, other cars flooding, houses flooding", etc. etc. When the firemen got everyone that was in immediate danger out we were taken back to the fire station.
It took Skip about an hour to get from our house to the fire station, which would normally take 10 minutes. We have since spent the day dealing with our flooding basement and our insurance company. Skips car still remains submerged at that intersection. They have to let the water go down before they will allow tow trucks into the area. Our insurance company has basically told us that our car will be totaled but they have not gotten the car out or inspected it. This has truly been a horrible day.

Reflection
I am so incredibly thankful that I did not have any of my kids with me during this experience. I can not even imagine trying to think through having to save my three kids with rushing water filling the car. It also would have taken way more fire men to get four people out of the car because they have to grab you all at the same time because once they opened the door the water rushed in quickly. I also need to tell myself that I am very fortunate because I am physically okay (emotionally not so much) and that it is only a car that is ruined.

Gymnastics

The boys have been taking gymnastics classes through the YMCA for a couple of weeks. I have been really impressed with this program and the boys love it. Here are a few pictures (sorry they are blurry our camera does not do a good job taking pictures of a moving object).

Playing Ball

Casen has been playing ball with the Fort LeBouf League. It has been fun to watch the games. They have two games a week so it has kept us pretty busy. I think Casen has learned a lot this season and he seems to really enjoy it.

The Team

Starting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

The kids alternate what position they play. Here is Casen playing second base.

Casen hit the ball and made it to first base.

Update on Cora

Wow, time is flying. I can not believe Cora is 10 weeks old today. She is getting so big and her personality even bigger. She does not even seem like a newborn anymore. Once Cora started smiling, a few weeks ago, she has been full of them ever since. Her smile melts my heart, it is so sweet.

Ready for Church!

We just got Cora this bumboo chair, that everyone swears by. It is fun to see her sit up in her chair, truly makes her seem old. (PS she is smiling at her dad who is standing next to me).

Our trip....Washington DC

We have spent the last couple of months planning a big trip for when Skip was on this last break. We have been so excited and were thrilled when it was finally time to go. The next couple of posts are a recap of our trip. We could not have fit more into 9 days if we tried. We were really lucky and were able to have Grandpa and Nana fly in and we went to Washington DC, Hershey, Baltimore, and Gettysburg. During our trip we stayed at a rental at Laura's parents house. They were great hosts and helped to make our trip fantastic.
Washington DC

The first thing we did when we got to DC was to go to the Smithsonian Museums. Grandpa and Nana took Casen and Jace and went to the Air and Space Museum while Skip and I went to the Holocaust Museum. This museum was definitely not a place for kids. It was very educational but also very very graphic. I can not believe that anyone could do such crimes against people. This was very sad.

Here is a picture of us in front of the Washington Monument. My dad had to lay on the ground to get this shot.....the monument is so tall (Thanks Dad).

Lincoln Memorial Monument

Arlington Cemetery

Here is the family in front of the Reflection Pond. As you can see we have two sleeping children (Jace and Cora). We had worn them out by this point.

Grandpa, Nana, and the boys in front of the White House.

National Aquarium in Baltimore

One of the days on our trip was spent at the aquarium in Baltimore. We were able to go to their dolphin show and see all of the exhibits. For those of you who know me really well you know I love love love dolphins. Growing up I always wanted to be a dolphin trainer, part of me still wants to.

Hershey

Hershey is such a fun place. It is divided into two parts...Chocolate World and Hershey Park. Chocolate World is all about the chocolate. You can take a tour ride on how chocolate is made, help make/ package chocolate, shop, etc. Hershey Park is a huge amusement park. We spent two half days and one full day in Hershey. It was a ton of fun.
Chocolate World

Here we are at the entrance to Chocolate World. We are soooo excited. Anything with chocolate has to be great!

After our tour on how chocolate is made the boys decided to test out their skills. Here is Casen working with the Hershey kisses.

Jace hard at work.

Both boys learning how to package the kisses.

Our youngest Hershey Factory Worker.

Hershey Park
Here is the family at Hershey Park (sorry the picture is so dark).

Grandpa, Nana, and the kids. This is where you measure how tall you are and then you have a candy bar assigned to you (this helps determine what rides you are tall enough to ride). Casen was a Hershey bar. He is our little dare devil.....anything they let him ride, he will ride. He rode several roller coasters, some of which went upside down and everything.

Here is Grandpa and Casen Followed by Skip and Jace.

Pure Joy!!

Gettysburg

While on our trip we stayed in Hanover, PA. This is about 15 minutes from Gettysburg. Because we stayed so close we were able to go to Gettysburg a few times. Skip loved this. He really enjoyed visiting all of the sites and learning more about this battle.


Here is a couple of pictures of the family at the Pennsylvania Monument. This is one of the most grand monuments at Gettysburg (If you look really close in the first picture you can see us standing at top of the monument)

Here are the boys trying to figure out how the cannon worked.

Here is a picture of Grandpa and the boys at Gettysburg.

Kirtland, Ohio

Last weekend we went to Kirtland. We have lived in Erie for almost two years and have passed the Kirtland exit numerous times, and yet to have stopped. For some reason we thought it would be a long drive off of the freeway....little did we know it is literally right off of the exit.
It was great to be able to visit these historic church sites. Here are some pictures from our day trip.

Here we are in front of the Kirtland Temple. We went to the temple's visitor center, watched a film, and went on a tour.

After going to the Kirtland temple we went to the LDS site. There was so much to see here. There was a visitor center, film, and tours of the historic sites with the missionaries. This was so neat to think of the things that have occured in these buildings, the people who once were here in these buildings. Here we are at the N.K. Whitney Store.

One of the reasons we went to Kirtland last weekend was to see the Angela Johnson's "The Healing Power of Jesus Christ" exhibit. This will be leaving Kirtland soon. This exhibit is incredible.. what a talent she was blessed with (and did not even know she had for years).

Updated Pictures of the Kiddos!

Cora's Blessing

Cora was blessed yesterday, May 3. It was a special day for our family.

Pictures of Cora

Here is Cora's baby announcement. Michelle was so sweet and took all of these great pictures for us and then did a baby announcement. Thank you Thank you Michelle. I posted our announcement along with some of my other favs.

Easter

We had a great Easter this year. We were lucky and had my mom and sister here to celebrate with us (they flew in for a week and a half to be here when we had Cora). It was so much fun to have them here.

Here is Casen, Ciara, and Jace decorating Easter Eggs.

I love how excited Jace was doing the eggs. He thought this was great fun!

Here is Cora and Dad supervising the egg dying. Cora was not impressed.....Slept through the whole thing.

The Easter Bunny found us. He brought the boys remote control 4 wheelers and a basket. He brought Ciara a movie and her basket. Cora got an infant carrier as well as a basket.

Casen was very good at finding the easter eggs this year. The Easter Bunny did not fool him.

Jace absolutely loved all of the candy that came in his Easter Basket, especially the peeps. We ended up having to hide his candy from him. If we hadnt he would have sat down and ate it all in one sitting.

Cora Lynn Johnson

So....On Sunday April 5th we were busy celebrating Casens birthday until about 5pm. Then I started having contractions, consistently. We hurried and called Michelle and Matt and went and dropped the boys off to them. They had there first ever slumber party that night with the Bairds. Thanks so much you guys are the best! Then Skip and I were off to the hospital.

I was kind of dying the whole way to the hospital that we were going to have Cora on Casen's birthday. I really did not want my kids to have to share their special day. My goal was to hold out until after midnight.

When we got to the hospital (around 7pm) my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. I was already hurting. I was sad to hear I was only dilated to a 3 when I got to the hospital. Over the next couple of hours my contractions got a lot closer together and much stronger. I really really wanted my epidural. My nurse told me that my doctor wants you to be dilated to a 5 before getting the epidural. This is sooooo different than how they do it in Utah. In Utah you can get an epidural before you are really even hurting. So I told myself make it to a 5 and then I will be set. So the next time they checked I was a 5. I was so happy, finally I was going to get my epidural and some relief. They paged the anesthesiologist.

So the anesthesiologist shows up and begins to try and place the epidural (I have had two epidurals that were easy to place and worked great). He was having a lot of trouble placing the epidural. He could not get it placed where it needed to be. He attempted 3 times to get it placed. I was then feeling really light headed and I heard the nurse say something to the anesthesiologist about she was losing me. Skip later told me that I passed out. After so many attempts to get the epidural......unsuccessfully......Dr. V (ObGyn) said I was going to have to deliver without an epidural. I was dying. The pain at this point was worse than I even imagined labor being (and I imagined it pretty bad). About a half hour later I was a ten and was freaking out about the pain (literally.....freaking out). I am one of those people you do not want to watch deliver a baby with no pain meds....I was screaming, dying. The pain and pressure was unbearable. They kept telling me that she was right there. Dr. V could tell it was a big baby right when she started crowning. Dr. V grabbed a vacuum and started trying to pull her out while I was pushing. This is so far from my perfect delivery I had wanted. I really do not like the idea of using a vacuum or forceps during a delivery but to tell you the truth I was in such incredible pain that I did not care what she did as long as she got her out. Finally....Cora was born at 12:55 am.

It is amazing to me that even though in my mind this was truly a nightmare delivery it is all worth it when she was here. All the nausea/vomiting, pregnancy aches and pains, and the worst delivery ever, all worth it when this amazing little person gets placed in your arms.

Here are a few pictures from the hospital......more pictures to come in the future.

Here is Cora right after she was born. As you can tell she does not know what to think about this whole thing.

She weighed 8lbs. 8oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long

The proud big brothers

So sweet!!

Ready to go home.

Happy Birthday Casen!!

Happy Birthday to my Casen. His Birthday was on Sunday, April 5th. We started his birthday celebration by having his birthday party on Thursday at the Bounce Zone. He had a lot of fun with his friends. This is the perfect place for them to run and be crazy. On Sunday we celebrated his birthday with just our little family (until about 5pm...and then....more info to come).

Here is a picture of Casen and Jace before his party started. Both the boys were very excited about Casens party
.

Here is Casen on one of the many bounce things.

All of Casen's friends at his party

Casen opening his presents....he was very spoiled.

Blowing out the candle!

Happy Birthday my sweet Casen!!

Our California Trip....Disneyland

Here is the first picture of the day....We are just entering Disneyland and are walking down Main Street. Everyone is really excited to be in Disneyland (especially Casen, do you notice he is carrying the map, he wanted to plan out what we should do....so cute).

Here is a group photo we had taken when we went over to the California Adventure Park. (Wow am I huge or what.....I am so glad I will always have these pictures to look back at to see how big I am at 35 weeks pregnant).

Here we are after just riding Splash Mountain.

This is Jace and his cousin Parker, checking out WALLE.

Here is Casen playing in the Tarzan Tree House.

Here is a picture taken of our family over at California Adventure.

Our California Trip....Bryan's Wedding

On Friday, March 6 my brother got married. It was a beautiful ceremony with an incredible setting. We were all lucky that Bryan and Jana chose to get married in Newport, California. This made it a wedding and a vacation all wrapped up in one.

Here is Bryan and Jana during their wedding ceremony.

Here is a group picture of my side of the family. We were really lucky that all of my parents and siblings were able to get together for the wedding.

It was so pretty at this beach that we decided to grab a picture of our little family.

Here is a picture of Casen playing in the water. If you notice he is wet in the above pictures. The water was like a magnet drawing him in. He was completely soaking wet from head to foot by the time we left the beach.

Bows and Bow Holder

My friends and I got together, a couple of weeks ago, to make bows and hats. I really wanted to learn how to make these cute hair accessories for my baby girl. It was so fun and they are actually not hard to make (especially under the direction of Suzi. Thanks Suzi). Here are a few of the hair bows and flowers that I made that night, and a few since then. I was totally not prepared for how addicting it would become to make these.....HaHa.




Because I have made so many bows and flowers for my baby I decided that I also needed to make her a bow holder. For those of you who know me I am not the crafty type but I gave it a go. Here it is......

IS IT EVER GOING TO STOP????

Okay....so I have to do another post on this snow. It is the most insane thing I have ever seen. Never, ever have I seen so much snow in my life. Do you see these pictures. The snow is higher than our mail box. Everyday I think it is going to stop snowing and some of it will melt.....everyday I am wrong. I think we have three to four times the amount of snow we had last year. My question is who is going to go house shopping in weather like this? (probably no one).

Our House is on the Market!!

http://8728Robin.info

In the middle of Winter!!

Baby Hat Making

So....while I was in Utah, My mom, sister, and I decided that we were going to learn how to make those cute little baby hats. We went to the craft store a little unsure of what we were doing and bought the supplies. When we got home with all of the stuff, we were surprised when my brother, Brady, said he knew how to make these hats. This is when it all started....my brother taught us how to make hats (Thanks Brady!) and my whole family got into it. It was so fun because now my baby girl has several cute hats and she is not even born yet. I have included a few pictures.

(For her wilder days)

(Soft and cuddly)

(I still need to get purple ribbon and put it through this hat)

Christmas Morning (Early)

So....our family had Christmas a little early (for the second year in a row). Santa Claus knew we would be leaving for Utah to celebrate Christmas, with family, so he came to our house in PA a little early (Dec. 20). The kids were so excited that Santa had come. Here are a few pictures.


Here is a picture of the kids starting to open presents, Dad was helping.


Santa brought Casen: a Nintendo DS, Air Hogs Helicopter and Airplane, PJs, etc.


Santa brought Jace: Elmo live, a Car Bean Bag, Cars, Airplane, etc.


Overall.......the kids were very, very spoiled.

Work Christmas Party

My work had a Christmas Party, both for patients on the floor, and for staff and their families. It was a lot of fun. Santa and Mrs. Claus even stopped by for a visit. Casen was excited to see Santa, Jace not so much.

Our Thanksgiving Week

It has been a very busy couple of weeks. Skip completed another term of school and did great. Go, Skip!! We were both looking so forward to finals being over and vacations starting.

On Friday of finals week, however, our vacation plans changed. We learned that Jace would need to have his tonsils and adenoids out on Tuesday (2 days before Thanksgiving). It was good timing in that Skip would be off from school to be there and help out, but also bad timing in that we did not want to spend our Thanksgiving vacation in this way.

Tuesday rolled around and Jace had his surgery. Everything went well. We even had a friend in on the operation to take extra good care of Jace, Thanks Levi. The surgery went well and now it was on to recovery. Jace was every bit as crazy, coming out of anesthesia, as his brother has been. He was thrashing around not understanding what was happening. This is so hard to watch as a mom. I felt so bad for him. After being in the recovery room for a couple of hours we were able to take Jace home.

Jace's surgery has been a lot harder of a recovery, than I remember of Casen's. Jace has just been extremely moody. He also absolutely hates taking his medications....it takes both Skip and I to hold him down and give them to him, even then sometimes he spits them right back out. That part has been really frustrating.

So, this week was spent mostly relaxing, watching movies, holding Jace, etc. etc. We did have a nice Thanksgiving dinner with all of the fixings. Yummy. We were also able to get all of our Christmas stuff set up (at least as much as we are willing to do for this year). Here are some pictures.

Here are the boys hanging Christmas lights outside. Skip really did not want to hang lights this year but Casen was so excited to do it that it was a must.

Dad basically did all of the work.....while the boys played


Here is the final product. Not a lot of lights......but enough that the kids were impressed.

The boys were so proud of the Christmas tree they helped to decorate.

Erie Winter is Here!

So yesterday we woke up to snow everywhere. My boys were very excited by this, me not so much. Skip was excited because this meant he could finally try out his new snow blower machine. Casen was dying to make a snow man, or at least go drive trucks through the snow. Jace just looked out the window in amazement.

When Skip got home from school he bundled the little boys and himself up. They went outside and snowplowed the drive way and the side walks. Casen and Jace just loved playing in the snow.

*I would have gotten pictures outside but it was already pretty dark out, that is the problem with the sun setting so early.

Happy Halloween!!!

Our family had a great Halloween. As you can see Casen had to be a Transformer. This was very fitting for him because he is pretty much obsessed with Transformers. Jace got to be a bat for Halloween. I picked his costume out and was mostly looking for something warm for him, so he would not freeze during trick or treating.
Halloween started out in the morning by us going to Casen's costume parade at school. It was a lot of fun to see all of the kids dressed up. They were so excited for the parade, class parties, and then the trick or treating that would be that night. I am sure the teachers needed a lot of energy that day to control all of the excitement.
On the night of Halloween we had a bunch of friends come over for dinner and trick or treating. The girls all stayed at my house and visited, handed out candy, etc. Well all of the dads took the kids out trick or treating......Did we plan that good or what? Halloween was a ton of fun!

Halloween Activities

We have been having so much fun with all of the Halloween activities we have been doing. Here are some pictures of a couple of the things we did. I must admit I do not have a lot of pictures because I have not been taking pictures like I should (self note: Be Better).

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids trick or treating at the mall. They had a lot of fun here because this was the first trick or treating they got to do (about a week before Halloween).....Lets just say they are NATURALS!!

We also had a ward Halloween party two days before Halloween. This was so much fun. At this party there were a ton of activities for the kids to do. One of which was a doughnut eating contest....as you can see we could not watch for long before we had to join in on the fun as well. I actually did not have my camera with me at the party (horrible) so I do not have any pictures of the kids, I had to steel these pictures from a friend, thanks Laura.

More from Port Farm

My friend sent me a few more pictures from Port Farm. I thought I would share these pictures as well. As you can see.....Everyone had fun on the slides.

Port Farm

Erie is such a blast this time of year. The leaves are full of colors and Halloween is on its way. We have taken our kids to Port Farm a couple of times this season. This is such a great place, there is a ton for the kids to do. There are slides, corn mazes, pumpkin sling shots, sand box full of corn, animals to feed, hay rides, etc. I have included a few pictures of all of the fun.

I love this video

Trying to Catch UP!!!

I know I have not been keeping my blog up at all. It has been a crazy couple of months. First of all this pregnancy has been really rough. I have been pretty sick and have only done those things absolutely necessary. You are able to see this in every aspect of my life (my house for example...not organized, blog not updated, etc.). I am now 12 weeks pregnant and still do not feel great but I think I am on my way to getting better instead of worse, or so I can hope.

I am going to try and do a quick catch up of the last couple of months!

My Dad and Laura were able to come out and visit for a week the end of August. We did so much.

We were able to go to the beach a couple of times. Jace loves playing in the sand and the water. He especially loves to mix the two of them.

Casen loved driving his remote control boat around.

We were also able to go to Niagara Falls, Splash Lagoon, and to a professional baseball game (Cleveland vs. Seattle). Below are a few pictures from the game......It was great.

My Mom and Thad were also able to come visit for a long weekend (last weekend). We also had a lot of fun with them. DO NOT ASK ME WHAT OUR PROBLEM WAS BUT WE DID NOT TAKE ONE PICTURE THE ENTIRE TIME THEY WERE HERE. DAH!!!

I will just have to sum their visit up with words. We did a lot of fun things while they were here.

Friday: We started the morning off by going to Krispy Kreme, which turned into a daily routine during their visit. We then took a scenic drive through Erie. When we arrived home I was tired/ not feeling that great so Thad decided he would take Casen, Jace, and Ciara to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids loved this plan. My Mom and I then stayed home and watched a chick flick and took a nap.

After they arrived back home we decided we should have a date night that night. I called and got a baby sitter for the boys (they would rather have a babysitter than go anyway, they are weird.) That meant freedom for us. We went to Aoyama, which is a Japanese Hibachi restaurant. The food was so yummy! Then we decided to go out to a movie because we never really get to do that. We went and saw Eagle Eye (yes, I got out voted on seeing a chick flick. Thad, Skip, and Ciara (what is her problem) would not have anything to do with that). The movie was good in a very interesting way.

Saturday: Thad took Casen and Ciara to Splash Lagoon. Casen was so excited. He absolutely loves this place. They all had a lot of fun. Casen told me that Grandpa was kind of a wimp on the rides but he told him to be brave. Well these guys went to splash, my mom and I went shopping. We got Jace some much needed clothes and shoes. It was a great day.

Sunday: We did the normal Krispy Kreme for breakfast and then we went out to brunch. Lets just say I am sure I gained 20lbs. in the time these guys visited from eating all the yummy food. After brunch it was time for them to head to the airport. We were sad to see them leave.

Ok....From here on out I am going to try and be much better at blogging our lives.

Casen's first day of Kindergarten

Today was Casen's first day of Kindergarten, oh my how time flies. Casen was excited, and maybe a little bit nervous about starting school. He was very thrilled that he would be riding the school bus to school.

When Casen arrived home he said school was fun. However, he did not give me the play by play of the day, as I had hoped. He just told be about the important stuff like lunch and recess. He eventually told me he also learned the numbers and letters...I asked him what letters he learned, and he stated that he learned all of them. I had to laugh.

Ok....so I cant get over how little Casen looks walking up to that big bus. I am pretty sure he is way to small/young to be heading off to school by himself.

Waldameer

Skip's work, CVS Pharmacy, had their work party this weekend at Waldameer. It was a lot of fun. We got passes into the park and they also had a BBQ and prizes. It was great.

So this day was so much fun, I would almost say perfect....almost. The weather did not want to cooperate with us in the slightest. I can pretty much sum it up with rain, rain, rain. This picture gives everyone a good idea of what it was like. GOOD THING WE DID NOT LET IT STOP THE FUN.

Girls Camp

I made it through my first girls camp. I was so surprised by how much planning and time goes into preparing for girls camp. I am just so grateful I had such a fabulous camp director (Thanks for everything Alesha). Camp was a total success...I think the girls had a lot of fun.

One of my favorite things up at camp was the canoe trip we went on. We had a lot of canoes that everyone was able to take out on the river. A few of us decided that it would be much more fun to ride the current down stream...swimming rather than canoeing.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jace

I cant believe my baby is 2 years old. Wow how fast time goes. We celebrated Jaces birthday yesterday (Saturday) with our great friends. We decided it would be fun to have a water party. I think the kids and the adults had a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures from the great B Day Party!

The Lagoons

This evening we decided to go out to the lagoons and go canoeing with our friends, the Bairds. It was soooo much fun. The Bairds have a canoe and we were able to go to a place and rent one. We then headed out. I was so surprised how beautiful and peaceful these lagoons were. We are so lucky to have so many neat places, within 15 minutes of our house.





Mom and Casen

Dad and Jace

The Bairds

The perfect mormon family (we had a few borrowed kids)