Payton James

For Payton's birthday, we went to Disneyland. Instead of him getting in free, we got a gift card to spend at Disneyland. We had a lot of fun. I even went on California Screamin because it was Payton's bday. Scary! Some of Payton's presents were an exercise ball (favorite item!), roller blades, and an Indiana Jones kit. He looks so cute in the hat! Payton, you are growing up so fast. Don't worry, in six months you'll be 48" so you can legally go on the rollercoasters! You are definitely my thrill seeker. No broken bones please!

TV Mom

Brandon's card was an interesting one. I learned a lot about what he sees in me. When my mom has some free time she...watches tv. My mom's favorite animal is a kitten (not). One thing I like most about my mother... she watches tv. My mom's favorite thing to eat...spaghetti (not). My mom is nice, kind, and funny.
Hmmmmm... ok, so I like to watch tv. But, I'm not an addict. I started laughing when Brandon wrote this. He is usually my loving and tender one. Maybe next year I'll get a tear jerker card from him.
Brandon made some homemade stationary for me. He even stamped it himself. Thank you Brandon! I love stamped paper!

Mother's Day Cards

Mother's Day is always an interesting holiday with three little boys. I never know what's going to happen. I hear myself repeating what my mom used to say, "all I want for Mother's Day is for everyone to stop fighting." Well, sometimes it works. My favorite part is all the homemade gifts they make and the cards.
Payton made me a personalized frame with words describing me. They are love, fun, fune, swet, osum, cid (kind), good, saf. Yes, I am an osum mom!

Austin also made me a card for mother's day. I found it crinkled up inside his backpack four days after mother's day. It said Roses are red, violets are blue, I like money and so do you! Hmmmmm.... I guess I do like money. I was hoping for something more sentimental?

Happy Mother's Day!

I just wanted to write to my mommy and tell her how special she is to me. She has been such a good example to me all my life. She was the perfect role model for me to follow. Mom always put family first. (Which is a hard thing when there's eight siblings.) She was a good sport when we would go camping all the time. I used to love camping when I was a kid. Now with my own children?...it's so much work!
Mom has always been great at teaching us the gospel. We knew she had faith in God and a testimony of the gospel. Because of my upbringing, it helps me to be a better mom. Last, mom is an extreme lover of family history. She has done so much work to research our family roots. She has written many books so we can know about our ancestors. I love to read those stories and get to know who they were.
I love you Mom! (Mom, do you always have to blink in every picture?)

Ice Skating Bloopers

What's a winter vacation without going ice skating? Lake Tahoe had a really nice ice skating rink. The boys have never been before. At first it was very hard for them. They couldn't even propel themselves. The facility gave the boys some "walkers" to help them stay on their feet. They were getting so frustrated. Brandon almost gave up within 5 minutes. Eventually they caught on to it. They didn't want to leave when the time was up. Since we went ice skating, the boys have asked us when they can go again. They've asked at least ten times. Good thing there's an ice rink close by our house. We'll have to get Uncle Gene to give us some lessons. He's really good at ice hockey.

Boating at Lake Tahoe

We rented a boat to check out the beautiful sites on the lake. It was one of the warmest days, but we were freezing!!! Tom drove about 25 mph and everyone was huddled up. We told him to go really slow so we wouldn't freeze to death. Payton and Brandon were lying on the floor of the boat because they were so cold. What a great view they must have had. We were only out there for about an hour. The rental place said we used 11 gallons of gas? What a rip off. We were going slow most of the time because we were so cold!

Mountain Bikers

At Lake Tahoe there were a lot of scenic bike trails. We rented some bikes and explored the beauty of the forest. Since Payton was five, the rental place said he couldn't ride his own bike. Dad had to pull a little trailer behind him. It was a heavy load, especially when we had to go uphill. This was my favorite activity of the week. It was so peaceful and the views were breathtaking! We got off our bikes for a couple minutes to explore some old vacation homes from the 1800's. It was next to Pope's Beach. Austin was very upset the whole bike ride because Payton was a free loader. He thought it was soooo unfair that his little brother didn't have to pedal or work hard. He is wacko. Isn't bike riding supposed to be fun???
Austin and Brandon were so amazed when they discovered their bike had gears on it. I'd have to say they shifted gears probably one hundred times in one and a half hours. Now Brandon says he wants a mountain bike for his birthday. Well, November is a long time away...

Bowling

Two of the days we were in Tahoe were very cold and windy. We decided to go bowling. Dad got the high score and made us all look bad. Dad told us if we beat him, he would take us to New York on vacation! We got close, but no cigar.

The hotel kids center had a family Wii hour almost everyday. So we would go down there and play as much as they would let us. It was so fun. Payton was winning everyone for a while. It didn't make Dad happy. He does not like to lose!!! Their favorite games were Bowling, Baseball, and Tennis.

Rock Climbing

One of the reasons we went to Lake Tahoe was to go sledding and play in the snow. Monday morning we went in search of a sledding place. Everything was closed for the season! This year they didn't get as much snow and had to close a lot of sledding places. April is usually the perfect month to go. There's still enough snow to play in, but it's warm enough to hike and be outdoors.
So we decided to go on another hike. Actually, it was an easy stroll through a closed campground. There were huge boulders everywhere. The kids had fun climbing on them.
The first night we arrived, it snowed. In the morning everything was white and beautiful. After the hike, we went back to the hotel. The snow had all melted away. The hotel grass and pool area looked like there had never been any snow. Austin was very confused. He asked us if the hotel had vacuumed up all the snow off the grass and chairs. Too funny! Even at eleven, he can be so cute.

Vikingholms Castle

Our first day in Tahoe, we went on a hike to Emerald Bay. You have to hike all the way down a somewhat steep path to the bottom of the mountain. In the 1800's there were a couple of vacation houses built. We looked at those and enjoyed the view of the island (with a little castle on it). The boys kept saying they wanted to bring a raft so they could get to the island. The water was freezing! It was probably 45 degrees. The way back up the trail was exhausting. The boys had run out of steam.

Super Students

In March Brandon and Austin got awards at school. Austin's award was Student of the Month for the highest GPA in his class that month. Brandon got an award for super math skills. In April Payton got an award for writing. They are all doing really well in school. We're so proud of you!!! Even though they hate school, they must be doing something right.

Pinewood Derby

Brandon is finally old enough to race in the Pinewood Derby! He's watched Austin race 3 years, and now it's his turn to show his stuff. Brandon chose a slim and sleek design. It was so light we had to add a bunch of extra weights to it. His car was really fast, but not fast enough to win first place. He raced with Austin's winning car from 3 years ago. It beat Austin's! There was a lot of tough competition this year. Twenty four boys raced! We have a really large pack. Brandon's car is the red one and Austin's is blue. He was too old to race this year. We just brought his car to see if Brandon's could keep up with it.