First Grade!

I've been dreading the first day of school for Ty for awhile now so I'm glad that we finally got it over with! Ty started 1st grade this year at Providence elementary school with Mrs. Downs as his teacher.  She is a intern so I was worried about what kind of teacher she will be like.  So far she seems to be good and Ty seems to like her.  The whole night before his first day I had a hard time sleeping because I was worried about him getting lost or kids being mean to him. It's weird for a mom who has been there for everything in his life to not know what he is doing all day anymore. I always know what he ate, who he played with, what he was playing, what he was doing.  Everything!  It's a odd lost of control for lack of a better word in my kids life. It's a good thing don't get me wrong but a hard one too!  I hope he acts the way he should and pays attention to what his teacher says. I hope he makes friends and fees successful at school.  He is having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to going all day.  When he gets home he is kind of emotional and has a short fuse.  I have to let him unwind for a little while before he starts acting like normal Ty.  He is just really tired I think.  Almost every mom I talk to says the same thing about their kids with 1st grade so I'm not too worried about it.  I'm glad he has a few kids in his class he knew from last year.  He was really excited about eating school lunch and was upset I sent him with a sack lunch the first day.  I guess he wanted to be like the other kids.  I love my handsome little guy and MISS HIM while he is at school!

Brigham City Temple

We had the awesome opportunity to go to the Brigham city temple open house this last week.  Bryan and I really wanted our kids to see what the inside of the temple looks like and I've never been to a open house before so I wanted to go too.  We met our friends the Hepworths there and didn't even have to wait in line.  Bryan and I were worried that our kids would be naughty but they were so good!  After a 10 minute video (which we didn't really watch much of because we were sitting in the back and it was HOT!) we went past all these people whose job was to put these little bootie things over our shoes so we wouldn't bring in dirt.  The tile work and finish work inside were beautiful!  I was told somewhere the tile came from Turkey but I'm not sure if thats right or not.  They moved us though in a huge line that moved pretty good.  My boys really liked the baptistry with the oxen.  Blake broke out of the line trying to look a little closer at it.  I actually thought it was cute because he didn't understand he needed to stay in line and I was worried they would think the tour was boring.  Even Stockton loved looking at all the paintings and was so good.  Brett was asleep on my the whole time. When we were done walking though they had cookies and water for us to drink and we went outside.  It was a really hot day! Then Tyson told me "that is the prettiest and bestest place I've ever been in". I asked the boys on the way home how they felt inside and they said they could feel Jesus's spirit inside and we had a little talk about it.  That comment alone was worth the trip over.  After the temple we met Theo and Annette over at the Arbys for dinner.  All in all a great experience.  I hope it's something my kids remember for a long time.

I knew you couldn't take pictures inside so I didn't know if you could even bring them inside so I only had my little camera that is broke and only takes video anymore so I don't have any pictures of us there.   I know this video is a little long but it's cute.

Swimming lessons

I was really brave this year.  I feel bad that my older boys are missing out on stuff this summer because it's so hard to take all 4 kids everywhere so I really didn't want them to miss out on swimming lessons. It didn't help that I kept reading and hearing stuff about how less likely kids are to be drown if they take swimming lessons.  We went to our local aquidics center again for lessons and they loved them! I was always so scared of swimming growing up that I really don't want my boys to be so scared they miss out on a lot like I have.  I even had a lot of lessons in my life but I still just hate putting my face in the water.  They both can jump in and do fine now.  

 Diving for rings 

 learning how to swim in a life jacket

 Back float 

 Playing a game

 Practicing his kicks 

 Entertaining Stockton. This was the hard part.  I would show up with my double stroller and belt Stock in.  I would bring toys and treats to keep him busy so he wouldn't run to the water all the time.  Some days we couldn't help but dip our toes in the water because it was so hot! I braved it every day with all 4 and survived.  It's a miracle!

I'm so proud of my boys for doing so well.  Helpfully next summer we can take them swimming on our own more then this summer!

Happy Graduation

Since Bryan won't let me get any real graduation photos of him these may have to be it- let me explain.

 Bryan's parents promised his brothers when they graduated from college they would buy them a new rifle and Bryan finally got it!

He also got a very expensive scope to put on it thanks to my parents and well me I guess.  But don't feel too bad for me.  I got a new bedroom set and bed this last Spring.  I consider that MY graduation present for Bryan finishing school.  That and Bryan being home so much more.  It's amazing to know what it's like to have a husband and father for my kids who we actually see. Last year I don't know how many times my kids went 3 to 4 days without even seeing Bryan.  I'm so proud of you Bryan!!!

Wild Man!

 I can't even count how many times I've been sprayed by the hose by this little guy.  He always catches me off guard!  If I am watering my flowers he is bound to come over and steal the hose from me.  And I usually end up getting wet. But how man can you get at a cutie like that?

Brothers

Stockton is so cute with Brett- he goes up to him and says "hi" in this high pitched voice.  He loves to give him a kiss and hug.  He also loves to hold him but only for a minute or so then he pushes him away. 

 This next one is my favorite:

 Ty and Blake still fight over who gets to hold Brett-

 I went to a bridal shower a couple of weeks ago and my Grandma was watching my kids for me.  When I got home Ty had made them PB&J sandwiches and they were having a picnic on their little picnic table.  So when we went to sams club they decided they wanted to do another picnic.  We have even done it once since then.

It's too bad it's been so hard for me to do things outside with my boys with it being so hot.  Brett and I don't last long outside if we don't have any shade during the day.  I feel bad we haven't done more things like a little picnic.

Poor, poor Stockton =(

Stockton was the victim of his bigger brother the other day.  I was on the phone and I could hear him screaming down stairs- which happens a lot really.  So he comes up stairs with blood coming down the side of his face.  I hurry and put Brett down and ran him into the bathroom.  The cut was so deep! I couldn't tell if he needed stitches or not.  So I called my neighbor to come over and tell me what he thinks (Bryan was working) and we both thought he should get looked at by a dr. He offered to watch my older boys and took the younger two to insta-care with my father in law meeting me there to help with the baby.  Well it was closed (they changed their hours so I didn't know) and Lige (my Father in law) and I decided to drive him down to Bryan's work to see what he though.  To walk in the doors of the ER cost's me 500 bucks- I didn't want to pay that and them tell me "here's a bandaid".  Bryan didn't think he needed stitches so I went and got him a frosty and fries and took him home.  He really wasn't bleeding after like 5 minutes after it happened so I wasn't worried about that.  I am worried about him having a horrible scar from it and I couldn't have made it less noticeable by getting him stitched up. I hope we made the right choice!  It honestly made me ill thinking about him being scared for life because I am cheep.

I can't get the full story out of the boys and so I was told he was either pushed into the wall or smacked in the face by a sword.  My money is on the sword idea. I'm sure this is the first of many wounds from these boys.  I should have been a nurse!

Brett at 3 months

I can't say enough how sweet my little Brett is!  I can't get enough of him! 

He sleeps THROUGH THE NIGHT! I have NEVER had a kid do that more then once at this age.   If he does wake up it's usually around 5 am the last week or so.  He goes down from 10 to 7 some nights.  And it is true- sleeping has a lot to do with the kid.  I don't do anything different with Brett then I did with the others and Tyson used to get up 4 to 5 times a night no joke. So people- I've earned a good sleeper!

When he sees me in the morning he gets this huge grin on his face.  I  can even get him to giggle when I tickle him.  He is so ticklish! Especially his back and feet.

It took him awhile to really start to smile.  I blame being born a month early and Bryan makes fun of me for it but hey he came 4 weeks early- it taking longer to smile makes sense. He is a cheezer now! I couldn't get him to look at my face for like the first month or 6 weeks of his life but now he is doing better.

Stock was a daddy's boy from day one- Brett is so a mama's boy.  Part of that is dad doesn't have the patience to stand up and walk around with Brett when he is board.  He only really cries when he is tired and board.  Sometimes when he is hungry but he usually gets fed before he is too mad.

This picture is even a few weeks old- His hair is almost all gone now.  I'll post a picture of the back of his head later- it looks horrible!  I huge bald spot like babies get but in between his dark hair that is only in the back now. Poor little guy.

He actually takes a bottle besides me feeding him.  It's a whole new world!  I can go to my cousins wedding this week and not have to freak out that he will be screaming and hungry when I get back.  I can run to the store without Bryan being in a tizzy at home.  So nice!

He kind of likes his bumbo chair but only for a little bit. He is starting to really like being in his swing. He sleeps really good in it when his brothers (mostly Stockton) leave him alone. 

Brett still has issues with his tear ducts.  His eyes have gunk in them all of the time.  He wakes up a lot with one or both eyes sealed shut.

I seriously can't get enough of this kid. I miss him when I go to the store or something.  (which is rare really) He is the most mellow baby! Sometimes we wonder if something is wrong with him because he is so mellow but then he has his times where he is kicking around.  My other boys were not likes this.  He really is a blessing from God.  My pregnancy was hard but I didn't have the morning sickness like my others so even though I felt like total crap it wasn't bad enough to not be able to function.  Then he is born and he is so good and sleeps!  I couldn't have asked for a better little guy to add to the dynamic of our crazy family.

My little salesmen

Ty is REALLY into selling things this summer- 

One afternoon a month ago or so Ty kept running in and out of the house and I could tell he was making something. I asked him what he was up to and he said was selling strawberries for 50 dollars. He had a sign that had pictures of strawberries, and little bucket for him to sit on and a wal-mart sack of strawberries.  He was yelling "STRAWBERRIES FOR SALE! 50 DOLLARS!" to everyone that drove by.  I was like Ty you can't sale those for 50 bucks.  And he was totally confused why.  Especially when I looked in the bag and saw like 10-15 strawberries, most of them squished. I explained to him he could only sale them for like 50 cents. I went back inside and apparently he had stopped some girl riding by on her bike that told them she would buy them and said she had to go get her money.  I went out to our garden and did my best to find some better strawberries for him incase this girl really did come back. (she never did.) He told me he only had to sale two bags of strawberries to by his DS player and was sad I wouldn't let him sale them for 50 bucks. 

 Recently he saw some "golden leaves" on my neighbors tree and thought he could sale them.  He was going to sale rocks and drawings too.  He was sad no one would buy leaves.  We have had to have a lot of talks about how people won't buy something they can get for free.

 Our friend owns a few Wendy's stores and was selling lemonade at our local "cruz in" and Bryan and the boys went to help.  Ty walked around for hours yelling "lemonade for sale! Three dollars!" He worked harder then any of them.  But more on Wendy's later.

Tyson is my little salesmen- he is ALWAYS wanting to do a lemonade stand but I just can't sit out in the heat with him and the baby.  Makes me wonder what he is going to be when he grows up.

Christensen's pool

My sister in law told me a neighbor was giving away this pool and they snatched it up so she invited us out to enjoy it! It was too deep for Stock but they had a wading pool he liked.  My older boys had a blast floating around on the tubes and things. 

Tyson and Braden

Stockton and Sadie.

Stock, Blake, Sadie, Ty and Sannette.  Sannette was so funny because she spent honestly a hour or more sitting in that pool trying to get all of the grass out.  Jenny had to bribe her to get out and eat lunch even though it was getting super windy and the rest of us were inside.

Madison helping Blake. 

Isn't my niece Ali cute?