MAMMOTH CAVES & DUCK CREEK DAYS

OK so I think I am finally caught up, I've been slacking on posting stuff. Anyways this past weekend we went to Duck Creek again to go camping. It was Duck Creek Days there, it's like a little fair. On friday we went over to the Mammoth Caves since last time we went we didn't have flashlights. The girls loved the caves, they probably would of went through them if they didn't take Tahj, he was scared because in some parts you had to crawl and he didn't like that. Anyways, we ended up going back on Saturday because my parents and Jared & Monica came up and the girls wanted to take them throught the caves. They all made it to the end of one of the caves and as you can tell it was a tight squeeze at the end. Mike almost didn't make it through!!
Got a few family shots, only missing Brooke & Jody, maybe next time. And yes there is an extra kid with us, Mykae brought her best friend Mercedes. She's already at that age when she wants friends coming with us so she doesn't have to always hang out with her family....Maliyah all mudding from crawling in the caves and Tahj always wanting to be with his dad. Total daddy's boy!!
We ended up going to Duck Creek days both days and yes Tahj had a blast on the slide, we couldn't get him off that thing. He threw the biggest fit because we had to leave. The girls enjoying some good greasy food and of course Tahj found the 4-wheelers & snowmobiles. Maliyah all wet, she went and helped with realeasing the ducks and she had to get in the creek to help. I'm sure that water was freezing, crazy kid!! Back at camp, Tahj lounging on the hammock, girls playing UNO, what they did almost the whole weekend..
On sunday we decided to go fishing, we went to Aspen Mirror Lake and everyone fished except for Preslee & I. Jared was the only one that caught a fish and Tahj was soo scared of it. As you can tell in the picture he's hiding behind Jared trying to look at the fish. They probably would of caught more but I'm sure Tahj throwing rocks in the water didn't help!! Boys will be boys...Glad they had a good time fishing, didn't think my kids would enjoy fishing especially Maliyah. She can not sit still and she gets bored very fast, but she stayed with Jared & Monica even when we left early. It was a very fun weekend, we even got in a couple of rhino rides. We are all ready to go back and have some fun and to get out of the heat...

SUU GYMNASTICS CAMP

On July 6th Mykae went to Cedar City to the SUU gymnastics camp for 4 days. Mykae and 2 other friends from her gym went. She stayed in the dorms, her and Hailee got in the same room with Gerilyn being the chaperone in their room which was a good thing. When we got to their room there were already girls in there and they were all teenagers like 15,16 year old girls. I know if Gerilyn wasn't chaperoning Mykae wouldn't have stayed. Mykae learned alot and the gym they got to workout in was such an awesome gym. It's gonna be hard to go back to their gym and workout, they just had some much more equipment. I think it was a good experience for her and now she can go back and show her coaches what she learned. Just in the 4 days she was there I could already see a big improvement!! Keep working hard like you always do..

4TH OF JULY

For the 4th of July we went to Cedar Mtn. and went camping (yes we stayed in tents again). It was nice to get out of the heat. We went to Panguitch to watch the fireworks and our kids were excited about going to Panguitch because they wanted to go to Henrie's and get a shake and to see Brianna Marshall (that's where she works and she's a friend that use to live in the valley). The kids had a fun time and loved the fireworks, except for Tahj he didn't like the noise and stayed on Mike's lap the whole time and Preslee slept through the whole thing, guess she was excited about the fireworks!! Maybe next year we can get back to our 4th of July tradition and be back in Idaho at St. Anthony sand dunes. But if not we can make going to Panguitch our new tradition since it is alot closer and cheaper!!

YOUNG MENS SCOUT CAMP

On June 24th the teachers & priest went to Fishlake for their scout camp. Mike said they had lots of fun.. Just a few pictures of the leaders and kids having some fun.. Mike said they went to some cliffs and a couple of leaders and the young men went jumping off the cliffs into some freezing water. Then they went to a nearby park played some football. Mike also said at the park there were deer grazing and there was also some crazy lookin' trees there (if your wondering why there's pictures of just trees). They also went tubing and fishing one day and even some of leaders got to go fishing without any of the young men. Looks like the leaders caught quite a bit of fish. I guess they were suppose to go on a hike but it rained the day they were suppose to go...I am thankful for Mike's calling as young mens president, the opportunity that he has to work with the young men and leaders in our ward and the bond that he has with them.

CEDAR MTN & NAVAJO LOOP TRAIL

After Mykae's gymnastics meet in Cedar we stayed at Duck Creek and then we went over to Ruby's Inn and then ended up hiking the Navajo Loop with our friends Scott & Rose Halsey. Everyone had a good time considering it was hiking which we don't do alot. But maybe we have something new we can do, okay only once in awhile!! But with beautiful scenery like that who wouldn't want to go hiking. And what wonderful pictures we got of the kids..
Just some more fun pictures of the kids. Yep they were all being bad so we sent them to jail. Looks like Tahj likes being in there, he's the only one smiling and having a good time. Let's hope that's the only time they are ever in jail.. It was a good weekend and it was just nice to get away and enjoy some nice cool weather and to just be with family & friends..

SUMMER GAMES MEET & END OF YEAR BANQUET

On June 3rd Mykae's Gymnastic Team had their end of the year banquet. This is the Flex It competitive team and coaches. These girls had a fantastic year for their first year competing...And next year they will even be better.. They all look soo cute in their pretty dresses, it was nice to see them in something different then their leotards..
On June 5th Mykae went to the Summer Games Gymnastic meet in Cedar City, UT. This was her 2nd meet of the season I thought she did very well. Hopefully next season she won't hurt herself and will be able to compete the whole season.

Mykae doing the vault.

Mykae on the beam.. Look at that handstand!!

The team at opening of the meet. There were 7 other teams that competed and if they were giving out team awards we would of took 3rd. Not bad for our first season competing. Good job flexi girls..

CEDAR MTN. TRIP

This past weekend we went to Cedar Mountain to go camping. Yes camping, staying in a tent and not taking our toyhauler. Mike and I thought it would be fun to actually camp and let the kids know what camping is all about. (They only know about sleeping in the toyhauler and having everything you need right there). We started packing and loading the truck and trailer and then I started thinking is this really worth it. We had sooo much stuff loaded in the rhinos and on the trailer, what should I expect packing for the 6 of us. We decided to stay at the camp ground just because you can have fires, and the kids were all excited about having a fire and roasting marshmellows and making smores. It wouldn't be camping if we didn't roast marshmellows. We got all set up before dark and then it started to get really cold and thought we don't have enought blankets and so we headed back to Cedar to Wal-Mart to get some more blankets, which was a good decision because it was freezing that night.
The next day we thought we would go on a rhino ride so we headed over to our friends cabin to unload our rhinos and got ready to go for a ride. First we had to go get gas and while we were getting gas and waiting for the kids to get some snack it's starts to sprinkle then that turned into a little of bit of hail and then it started to pour. So there went our ride and Tahj wasn't to happy about that. We ended up just hanging out at Scott's cabin for the day. Then on saturday we decided we would take the rhinos and head to Cascade Falls, we started following Scott and then we had to stop for a minute and then ended up losing Scott and Mike wasn't sure which way to go. So there went that ride too!! Finally we went back to the cabin and then we just decided to take the vehicles to Cascade Falls. We decided we would do the hike to the waterfall, what a trail it was. People probably thought we were crazy taking a 2 year old and a 4 month old baby on that trail. Some parts had been partly washed out and I even was thinking what are we doing going on this some what of a trail but we made it there, thanks to Scott carrying Preslee all the way there and Tahj on the way back. I think if it was just Mike & I we wouldn't have done it. It was worth it though!! The top pictures is at Cascade Falls and also the Ice Caves. They had fun at the ice cave but I think it was more mud than ice. There was even a little bit of snow left there too. As you can tell Mykae started a snow ball fight.
We all had a fun weekend and everyone is ready to go back. Tahj didn't want to leave, he liked staying in the tent and also liked all the animals he saw. We saw deer, a beaver and of course lots of squirrels. The kids also found a deer leg and hide and that's all Tahj talked about was the deer leg...Hopefully we will be able to make up to the mountain alot this summer, I am ready to be where it is cool and to get out of the heat..

DADDY/DAUGHTER PINEWOOD DERBY

On May 12th for achievement days the girls had a daddy/daughter pinewood derby. And of course leave to us that we wait til the last minute to start on the girls cars. And of course it has been years since Mike had done one of these but they got it done. I think Maliyah even took her car still wet from the paint. But the girls picked out how they wanted to design their car and Mike shaped the cars for them then they did the rest. Well the sanding and painting and Mike put the weights in and the put the tires on, but I thought they did a good job. Mike thought he would take Tahj with him because he was excited about his sisters cars and of course Tahj wanted to carry Mykae's car. Mike said when they got into the church Tahj decided he would throw Mykae's car and ruined the tires. So Mike spent most of the time trying to fix her car. But it didn't matter the girls had fun!!! What a fun achievement day activity and the girls are already looking forward to the next pinewood derby..

CEDAR MTN. RHINO RIDE

This past saturday Mike & Tahj headed up to cedar mountain for some father/son time. They went to our friends cabin and went out on the rhinos. That morning Tahj was soo excited about going on the rhinos that he wore his goggles from our house all the way to cedar mountain. Mike said he wouldn't take them off. They had lots of fun because there was still snow on the mountain and in some parts maybe a little too much because they ended up getting stuck. I guess it took them awhile to get unstuck, I think Mike said it took them over an hour to get both the rhinos out. And I'm guessing before the ride Tahj found the yamaha store and wanted his dad to buy him a 4-wheeler. Mike said he told Tahj they would come back later to get the 4-wheeler, that was the only way he could get him to leave. I'm glad they had fun playing in the snow and getting all muddy. By the time they got home they were both ready for bed, as you can tell Tahj was worn out, he didn't even take his sweatshirt or shoes off. And if you know Tahj that's all he's been talking about, getting the rhino stuck in the snow!! Glad you guys had a fun time and next time we will be ready to go with you guys...

3RD ANNUAL MUDDY 2 THE MEADOW UTV & ATV RIDE

On Saturday it was the annual muddy to the meadow ride. They leave from carp elgin and go up to Panaca, it's an all day ride, about 12 hours. This year Maliyah was the one that got to go with Mike. I was kind of worried when she said she wanted to go, she is not one to sit still for very long!! But Mike said she did good and did not complain once. And he said not very many people went this year. That's because they changed the day, they were suppose to go the week after the fair (but that when Mike had is heart attack) but Kyle (he's the one that puts this all together) is such a good friend that he changed it to this weekend so Mike could go. Mike said they had lots of fun and went on lots of new trails, different from last year. And I guess instead of going to Panaca they went to Caliente and had lunch there. Mike said they went about 180 miles, they got home about 6:30 pm and they were both very tired.

MAY DAY DANCE

On Friday May 1st it was the schools annual May Day Dance. This year was special because it was Mykae's last year doing the May Day Dance. That's right she will be heading to middle school next year. (I can't believe my baby will be in 6th grade, crazy huh!!) The 5th graders did the tradional braiding of the may pole and the parents also get to go out with their kids to help braid the may pole. As you can tell in the pictures Mike was the lucky one that got to go out there with Mykae. Look how cute they are and they didn't even mess up. Does it bring back memories Mike?? It was only, how many years ago did you do this....She also did tininkling, it's where 2 students using poles tap them on the ground and 1 person jumps over and in between them.
This year Maliyah's dance was the Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride (the song from Lilo & Stitch). She had lots of fun doing the dance and the whole week she was excited for us to see her dance, it's all she talked about. I told her to wear her dress she got from Hawaii but of course what does mom know, she said she couldn't wear a long dress because her teacher told them to wear shorts. I guess I should be glad that she actually listens to someone because she sure doesn't listen to her parents. Well, another year of May Day dances down and only another 10 more years to go. Hopefully by the time Preslee is doing the may day dances that they will have some new dances!!

MYKAE'S GYMNASTIC MEET

On Saturday Mykae went to her first gymnastics meet in St.George. This was her first meet after she had cracked her growth plate in her elbow, most of the girls have been to at least 4 or 5 meets already. I have to say she did pretty good and I was impressed with what she has accomplished. She was still scared to do her round-off back hand spring (that's how she hurt herself) but hopefully she will get over that fear and be able to do it in the next meet. But I was very proud of her and that she has worked so hard in the last year and she has not complained about being gone for 3 days a week for 3 hours to go and train. And I am glad that she stuck with it even after getting hurt. All of the girls did an excellent job and the team ended up taking 3rd place, way to go Flex It Team.


This is Mykae's Floor Routine..

EASTER DAY

On Easter Sunday we had all of my family over for dinner and of course for an easter egg hunt. Actually it was a candy hunt, we didn't color eggs this year because we were busy with the fair. (Hopefully next year we will color eggs) The kids had fun looking for the candy, but I think Tahj was watching Grandpa & Grandma hide the candy because he ended up with the most candy. And of course the girls had to argue over which candy they got and didn't get. But we all had a fun time even Jared was getting candy. The kids were excited that Brooke & Jody were able to be here too and also glad that they are moving back to Vegas. So summertime the kids will spending time between Brooke & Jody's and Jared & Monica's houses. Thank goodness for aunts & uncles..

RODEO

On Saturday night we went to the rodeo as a family(yes even Mykae & Maliyah went) and Tahj loved it. His favorite was bare back and saddle bronc, he told me he wanted to ride the horses that did the jump, jump!! Good thing he fell asleep before the bulls came out, I'm sure he would of wanted to ride those too!! My wonderful husband is such a trooper, we took Preslee to the rodeo too and she only lasted about 15 minutes. He ended up walking her around the fair instead of getting to watch the rodeo (I had surgery and can't hold & walk around with her). Mike will be glad when I am all healed and back to normal, so he doesn't have to be Mr.Mom anymore. But the rest of us had a good time at the rodeo..I wish I would of got more pictures but my battery was going dead.

CLARK COUNTY FAIR

One of the days we took Bella with us so her and Tahj could go on the rides together. They had lots of fun as you can tell in the pictures. My favorite pictures are when they are holding hands walking to the next ride and when they are about to kiss(Tahj already making his move, better not show Kyle that picture), The girls will ask Tahj who his girlfriend is and he tells them Bella. I guess they were meant for each other!! One of the pictures Mike being the chaperone.. They are just too cute together!!

Pictures of Tahj and Maliyah riding the rides. Maliyah did hang out with us for a little bit one night, just because all of her friends left to go home. Maliyah doing what she does best, EATING!! Tahj & Preslee fast asleep from all the fun they had at the fair. Tahj loved the motorcycles and roller coaster, those were his favorites.
Here are some pictures of everyone having fun at the fair. I think most of the pictures will be of Tahj. The girls didn't want to hang out with their mom & dad. (Just not cool to hang with your parents). Tahj was excited that Jared & Monica came to the fair for alittle bit. He was also excited about seeing the turtle dude and riding on the ponies. Even Preslee had a little bit of fun, she slept most of the time which was good. Oh look, there is a picture of Maliyah with her dad at the fair!!
On friday it was Maliyah's turn to perform at the fair. It started with her singing with the children's choir at 11 am and then of course we just decided to stay and let the kids ride the rides and hang out with their friends. Then later that day she had her clogging performance. I am also proud of what she has learned also. I know how hard it is to switch clogging teachers but she has learned so much also!!
On Thursday Mykae's gymnastics team performed at the fair. They did a couple of routines and also a routine using the springboard. I finally got to see Mykae in action, a couple of months ago Mykae cracked her growth plate in her elbow at gymnastics. She is finally healed and can now perform with her team. I am excited to see her finally compete in some meets that are coming up. She is still a little scared to do her round-off back hand spring but hopefully she will get over her fear and get it down again. I am very proud of what she has learned and accomplished, having only been taking gymnastics for a year. Good Job Mykae!!

MONSTER TRUCKS

Yesterday was an eventful day for Tahj & Mike. We went out to the smoke shop and watched the truck races for awhile. Tahj liked the races because there were sandrails and trophy trucks. Him and his dad were in heaven watching the trucks and wishing it was them driving inside the trucks. I wouldn't be surprised if one day they both were driving one of those trucks!! After watching the races for awhile they left with Kyle and the boys and were headed for the monster truck show. Ever since I told Tahj he was going the see monster trucks that's all he could talk about. He even found his Grave Digger truck to take with him...

Mike said they got to the monster trucks early and he said Tahj was impatient, he wanted the trucks to start.. He also said Tahj was a rock star there, there were people taking pictures of him, just because of his mohawk. (and of course because of how cute he is). He gets alot of attention because of his mohawk and when people make comments or start talking to him then he really puts on show!!

Mike said Tahj stayed awake til about 10 pm which he never does unless he takes a late nap. So I knew he was very excited about monster trucks. He also said he had to hold Tahj and stand up with him, if he tried to sit down Tahj would get mad and throw a fit. He just wanted to see the moster trucks better!! And of course Mike was such a good dad and stood the whole time holding Tahj. (even when he has bad knees). Tahj had way to much fun, that he fell asleep at the end of the show which is the best part when they start jumping and doing crazy things in their trucks.

When Tahj woke up the next morning he told me monster trucks, crashed... He was even excited the next morning, he had to tell his sisters all about it. Which they were mad because they didn't get to go, maybe next year!! I asked him which was his favorite monster truck and he would say dave digger (grave digger) and the mohawk guy. One of the drivers has a mohawk that's has big has Tahj's. He also kept saying go see monster trucks again, good thing we have some video of them so he can watch those until next year. We have to thank our friend Kyle for getting the tickets for them, it was a boys night out!! I'm glad that Mike & Tahj had fun and that Mike has a son that he is able to do things like this with. And I'm sure there will be many more father, son outtings.. It's fun to hear Tahj tell me all about it and I'm sure I will be hearing about it for the next week or so. Glad you guys had a lot of fun!!

SNOW TUBING AT BRIAN HEAD

On Thursday March 26th we decided to take the kids to Brian Head and go tubing. Yeah they missed school but do you think they mind missing school. This was the only day we could go, because on Monday I am going in for surgery and we thought by the time I was healed there would be no snow left!! We actually thought the girls would want to go snowboarding but they said they wanted to go tubing. When I told Tahj that we were going the go play in the snow he was so excited, he told me lay down in the "no" (which meant snow) and he would show me how he was gonna lay in the snow. This idea was all Mike's idea because last weekend the Priest & Laurels went to Brian Head to go skiing and since Mike can't ski because of his knees, him & Doug went tubing and he came home and told us how much fun he had and that we should go as a family, so we did!!

In the pictures above is in the morning when we were getting ready to leave. Of course we had to stop at Wallys so everyone could get something to eat & drink. (especially Maliyah, she was already asking what was for lunch). As you can tell Tahj got his favorite thing to eat, a HOTDOG!! And you can tell Preslee is soo excited to be going to the snow... On our way to Cedar City it started snowing, it was snowing so hard that you could barely see the road. By now I'm thinking it is going to be so cold at Brian Head, did we pick the coldest day to go...When we got to Brian Head it was 17 degrees and the wind was blowing. Tahj was ready to be playing in the snow, but I told him he had to get his warm clothes on. As you can tell in the picture of him sitting in the snow he is ready to go tubing, he's just waiting on everyone else to get ready. And of course we can't forget to do snow angels, the girls showed Tahj how to make snow angels. But I think he just wanted to lay in the snow, it almost looks like he was asleep.

Everyone having fun going down the hill. I think Tahj & Maliyah went down every time. When Tahj would get to the bottom of the hill, he would say "AGAIN", "AGAIN." He definitely loved it, I don't think he even minded the weather being freezing cold. I think Mykae went down 4 times and she was done, she said it was too cold!! But I think she had fun racing her sister down the hill a couple of times, and in one of the pictures you will notice Maliyah chasing her tube down the hill. She said Mykae made her go down the twisty track, but they were all straight, so who knows what she was talking about, she just wanted someone to blame because she fell off her tube..You can even notice it snowing in some of the pictures too, it wouldn't have been to bad but the wind was blowing so that made it even colder. But all of us had FUN!!

We thought we were gonna get snowed in...we went in the lodge to get a snack and it started snowing so hard that we could hardly see the parking lot.. But it quit by the time we were ready to leave. As you can tell Tahj wasn't to happy to be going home, he wanted to stay and play in the snow..But that didn't last to long because he was asleep by the time we got down the hill, actually everyone was asleep, even Preslee. Even though she didn't get to get out in the snow..it was way to cold for her. Her & Mykae sat in the truck where it was nice & warm and watched everyone else freeze there butts off!! When we got home Tahj was already saying go back to the "no." Looks like this will have to be something we do every year now.

Picture Day With All The Kids

Yesterday I had the bright idea of taking all the kids to St. George to get their pictures taken, while Mike was on his youth activity skiing. Who thought it would be so hard taking 4 kids to get their pictures done especially since the 2 oldest would be there to help. Boy was I wrong!!! I just wanted to update the kids photos, especially now that we have Preslee. Who knew Tahj would be such a maniac in Kiddie Kandids, he usually loves to get his picture taken, except for today!! I had to bribe him by telling him we would go to Target (which is his favorite store besides wal-mart) so he could get a monster truck (his favorite thing), that only lasted for about 2 poses and that was it. Then he started moving all the little furniture around and then he found some basketballs, footballs and soccer balls and decided to throw and kick those while the girls were taking their pictures. Then of course when we were finally done taking pictures (only 2 hours later) Tahj wanted to take pictures, but I had to tell him we were done, so he threw a fit cuz he wanted his picture taken. So I'm trying to look at the pictures and see which ones I like and want, then there's Tahj moving the stools and chairs around, basically rearranging the furniture in there, luckily there was just one family in there waiting. So only after being at Kiddie Kandids for over 2 1/2 hours we finally got our pictures and we were out of there. And the girls working there were probably saying the same thing, glad that family is gone!! So next time I say I'm taking the kids to get their pictures taken, either remind about what happen last time I did that or make sure that someone is going with me so I don't go crazy!! But we did get some cute photos of everyone, so maybe it was worth it!!

A DAY AT THE PARK WITH TAHJ

Today I took Tahj to the park for a day out of the house, which doesn't happen very often. It's just to hard to go anywhere with 2 kids and especially with Tahj that likes to run around, everywhere we go!! He had so much fun that he didn't want to leave, even though it was hot outside!! He even made a new friend, which it seems like he does very easily no matter where we are. They had fun racing down the slide and swinging on the swings together. Preslee had fun too, even though she didn't get out of her carseat, she's showing her peace sign. And Mike even came to the park after work, as you can tell he's having lots of fun too!! (He's just a big kid). Looks like we will be making more trips to the park before it gets too hot!! When I told Tahj we were going to the park he kept saying go down slide, go down slide.

Pirate Motion Dance Camp & Revue

Mykae & Maliyah attend the Pirate Motion dance camp last week. Maliyah got sick and ended up missing 2 of the 4 days it was held. But she's a quick learner and learned the dance. They both had fun at the camp and they can't wait til next year's camp. Then on Monday March 16 the Pirate Motion had their Dance Revue, so the girls got to perform their dances. They both did a wonderful job!! The girls were excited to get pictures with Betsy Hardy, Alyssa Eide and Kaylee Barlow. ( girls that are in our ward and also babysitters). Also during the revue the pirate motion girls got dressed in formal gowns, while they were doing that they had a slide show with music playing and of course our little show off Tahj went out in the middle of the floor and started dancing for everyone. He found some sunglasses and wore those while he was showing off. I didn't get any pictures cuz I was busy just watching him dance and wishing one of the girls would get him!! But he was in his glory showing off for everyone there. I decided it must be the mohawk, just because he gets soo much attetion everywhere we go, so he's not shy at all!! Hopefully it's not a bad thing when he gets older ..