Bretty first Birthday!!

Man I love this kid.  Brett is my little sweetie.  He is a HUGE mama's boy! He hates it when I leave to go anywhere.  Which is cute he loves me so much and hard that I can't really leave him anywhere.  He is starting to want to walk.  He stands up next to everything and is starting to open all of my drawers and pull everything out.  He was unrolling the toilet paper earlier today.  I got him a little toy that he can walk behind and he has gotten good at it.  

 We had a very hungry caterpillar birthday party.  My boys love that book.  Brett doesn't really let me read the book to him because he wants to tare it apart all the time.

 Stockton felt as though he should be doing everything for Brett on his birthday so I don't think Brett really got a chance to even try to unwrap on present without Stockton "helping" him.  

 We had a caterpillar cake and lots of fruit

 A few cousins came over for cake.

 Bretty was NOT shy about eating his cake!  He dove right in.  What a boy.  It was hard to find him the right cake and frostine with his milk allergy but I really wanted him to have some cake on his birthday.

 We actually did two different birthday "cakes' for Brett.  Bryan is still in Germany so he skyped us around noon to see Brett.  It's the only way we can talk to him while he is gone.  More on Germany later but it made me sad his dad wasn't there in person.  At least he still sang and saw him even if it was on the computer.

Brett you have been such a joy in my life.  You coming into our home when you did has made things crazy but I can't imagine my life without you in it.  I love how  you snuggle into me when I pick you up.  I love how you smile so big when you see me in the morning.  You love your brothers and in turn they are totally crazy about you.  You are a very sensitive and sweet little boy.  You are a tender little guy and can get scared kind of easy.  Brett you love to be held.  But not by just anyone really only me . Which I kind of love that you love me that much.  You have the sweetest little giggle when I tickle you and are easy to get to smile.  There is nothing more I wish for then to be a good mother for you.  I hope you know how much we love you and how you are a very important part of our family.  Love,
Mom

St George- the pool!

My boys love swimming- well most of them at least.  Brett has this weird thing with water.  He is such a timid little guy and nervous that it doesn't take much to push him over the edge.  

 As soon as his toes touched the water it was over.  Brett cried for at least a half hour.  I really wanted him to get used to swimming though because my other boys love it so much I would love to go a lot as a family this summer.  It's our first summer where Bryan isn't working every Saturday and not in school EVER so we want to make the most of it!  I hope Brett gets the hang of it soon.

 Our family swimming- Stockton playing on the stairs, Ty and Blake playing, Kiya LOVING every minute of it and Brett screaming.

 Stockton has a special place in his heart for Kiya.  She loves playing with him as well.

 Sierra and her mini me Kiya 

 Tyson told me later to quit taking his picture because it makes him stop having fun.  Point taken.

As hard as it is to function with 4 kids ages 7 to 1 I try to make sure they don't miss out on anything because of it.  I try to still take them and do things even if it's really hard for me.  I hope they remember their childhood as fun and full of good memories.

Snow Canyon

Friday was a beautiful day in St. George so we went up to Snow Canyon to play around a bit.  

 My dad always calls my kids crazy galoots so we had to get a picture by this sign.
 Volcanic rock- he thought that was the coolest thing he had ever seen.

 We went on what we thought was going to be a easy hike but was NOT! I was worried Ty was going to trip and fall off the mountain.

 Tyson is my mountain goat.  The boy really does love to be outside and explore things.

 Snow canyon is beautiful!  The hike we did would have been great if we had a couple more adults or older kids.

Ty found a cactus.  This is him on the side of the rock.  

 Kiya and Brett liked being in the backpacks. I was lucky my dad was willing to take Brett for me.  I wanted to take Stockton myself because the panic mom in me was so scared he was going to roll off the cliff or something and I wanted to make sure I had him.

 Blake liked hiking around too.  Between my side- the Boy scout backpacking type and Bryan's the hunting big deer all fall and  hiking to find them all summer it comes as no surprise they like to be outdoors.

I think on of the biggests shocks of the trip to me was how much Brett loved the sand.  He would have rolled around in it if I let him!  At one point he plopped his face right down into the sand.  Then he sat up with a big grin on his face and covered in sand. Kiya on the other hand HATED the sand.  She was kind of tired too so maybe that's why. 

My boys had fun rolling around and digging in the sand.  

 Sand angel.

 Stockton throwing a shovel at me . What am I going to do with him?

I really do love my kids.  I feel like a basket case all the time trying to take care of all of them but I just really love being with them.  That's why I don't work.  I want to be with them as much as I can.  With a few little breaks to the store of course.  =)