The Dutsons

Cody's Birthday

2011-04-20T17:55:00.000-06:00

I was totally surprised on St. Patrick's Day when my kids set out a rainbow to lure a leperchaun to our house. They drew a rainbow and then found all the yellow skittles and put them out as a pot of gold. Then they told me, as we were leaving to run errands, that the leperchaun would probably come while we were gone and leave them prizes. What?! I wasn't prepared for this! Brylie and Cody both went to the same preschool and I'm pretty sure that Miss Debbie taught them this. Well, after a quick text to Michael when we left the house, we were completely surprised that the leperchaun did visit our house while we were gone! And he brought gold candy and St. Patrick's Day bears for everyone!! I guess a leperchaun just can't resist a good rainbow and pot of gold.

Cody turned 4 last month. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. He is a sweet little boy and I really enjoy having him home with me. He's really helpful and loves to help clean the house and organize things! Wonder where he got that from? He is a "glass is half full" kid and can always point out the bright side of things. He loves to make his little sister laugh and most of all he enjoys playing with his best friend (our next door neighbor). We love you Cody. Happy Birthday!

Here is a picture of Cody and his best buddy, Surf. They play together everyday, all day! I feel so bad knowing that we are moving in a month. It makes me sad that Cody doesn't understand it. When he talks about moving, he talks about Surf coming with him :-( Hopefully we can find him another good friend in our new neighborhood.

Valentine's Day

2011-04-08T14:40:00.000-06:00

I am slowly getting caught up.... one of these days I am going to post a holiday on the actual holiday! Really, I might, you never know. So here was our fun filled Valentine's Day. Brylie is beautifully modeling her Valentine box.....

and her valentine cookie.

Grandpa Dutson came down for a quick visit. On a side note, Sadie is obsessed with sunglasses. In the car if the sun gets in her eyes she screams "sun" until we give her glasses. Oh, and she usually wears them upside down.

Cody's valentine cookie.

Brylie's 1st grade program. She did a wonderful job.

For some reason our kids like to bring us their blankets and we have to wrap them up like a burrito. Hours of fun! And don't mind Sadie's hair. It was in cute piggy tails earlier in the day!

Brylie had so much fun with Dr. Seuss week. Here is crazy hat and socks day.

I think this was mixed up clothes day!

And last but not least.... her "Who" hair.

Cody started soccer and had fun at his only practice he ever went to! Unfortunately the weather hasn't been too great so a lot of practices got cancelled. Then we were out of town for a couple of Saturdays that we weren't planning on when we signed him up. So we missed so much that we finally gave up! Well, we'll try again next year.

A February Update

2011-03-31T14:26:00.000-06:00

I was having problems uploading pictures to my blog for the last month because my storage space was full. It took me awhile to get around to doing the research to figure out how to regain my storage space again, but I finally figured it out! Yeah! Now I can blog again! So now I am playing catch up.

Brylie's dance team has had a few dance performances lately at basketball halftimes and also a drill team review. It is so fun to watch her get better at performing in front of a lot of people. The first picture didn't turn out very well, but she is the small one on the right!

In February, Cody took swimming lessons with his best friend that lives next door. He surprised us with how well he did. The nice thing is that it wore him out every day for 2 weeks!

So this is what happened when he got home from swimming each night.

For awhile now we have had a speech therapist come and work with Sadie a couple times a month. She likes to bring activities for Sadie. Sadie is a sensory child. She likes the feel of soft silky things, and other things like clothing that are just not right, bug her badly. Sadie also gets concerned when her hands get messy and likes to clean things with wipes. (Hmmm wonder where she got that from?!) Anyway, the therapist brought a messy activity to desensitize her to messiness. Well, Sadie and Cody had no problem with the mess, but their mother sure did!! They played with flour and baby oil. I had to do 2 loads of laundry and vacuum like crazy when they were done.

Michael has a bunch of trains growing up and could never figure out where they ended up. One day his sister found a box of them from their shop and sent them down to us. Cody and Michael set them up and Cody thought that was so cool.

Visit to West Jordan

2011-03-10T15:08:00.002-07:00

We visited family in West Jordan shortly after Christmas. Brylie was so excited to see snow (even though there wasn't very much of it). We bundled her up in borrowed snow bibs and let her have fun.

We also had the opportunity to go to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. We had never been there before and it was a lot of fun. We left Sadie with Grandma to nap and headed out. It was snowing a lot that day but we made it!

You gotta love Cody's faces.

Their favorite part was of course the sand and water. They could have stayed there forever.

We also went for the first time to Incredible Pizza. The kids had a blast playing the games. We loved the bowling because it was so easy to do! I would put up pictures of it, but apparently I have used up all of my picture space on this blog. I'm not willing to buy more space so I am going to have to start deleting old posts. It's ok though, cause I have my 2008 and 2009 blog books printed so I can start deleting those now!

Quote by Cody

2011-03-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Cody is such a quirky little boy and is always saying the funniest things. I know I will forget them so quickly, so I better blog them while I still remember them.

I picked him up from preschool yesterday and his teacher told me this. She asked him to hurry and finish coloring his project so they could move on to something else, and he did a big sigh and said: "I can't. My hand is out of gas."

Family Pictures

2011-02-28T14:02:00.000-07:00

A couple days before Christmas we had family pictures taken. Our friend, Michelle Walter, took the pictures and did an amazing job. It's pretty rare when we can get all of us together at the same time. It was so fun to be with my whole family at Christmastime.

Christmas Day

2011-02-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun Christmas this year. I loved that Sadie was old enough to enjoy it! Here is how our Christmas went: (The pictures got messed up and are not in the right order)

Sadie mostly enjoyed sitting on the boxes and eating every candy cane (wrapper and all) that she could get her hands on. Seriously, just when I thought I had all of them up high, she would discover another one and dig in!

Brylie rocking out with her new guitar and microphone.

They opened all of their presents and never even noticed the extremely large box that santa had left behind the couch. Later that day we told them it was a trampoline and we set it up. They were pretty excited.

Christmas eve they opened their jammies. Sadie would have nothing to do with posing for the camera. We took several shots and this is the best we could get.

Then Brylie took over the camera and made everyone pose for pictures. She insisted on having one of us in our Christmas jammies too.

Cody showing what he got in his stocking.

Brylie's new bike. Good thing Santa brought it, because a couple weeks earlier Brylie left her bike on the curb and a neighbor ran it over. Time for a new one!

Christmas Time

2011-01-27T14:40:00.001-07:00

It seems like last the year flew by so quickly and now January is almost over. I guess I had better finish blogging about Christmas soon! The kids saw Santa at our ward Christmas party this year. It was a lot of fun and Brylie had a little speaking part in the program. Sadie cried on Santa's lap until he handed her a candy cane. Then all was good!

Cody made a gingerbread house at preschool that he was pretty proud of. As soon as I was done taking the picture he ate it!

One of the nice things about living in St. George is the winter weather. This was the weekend before Christmas. I think it was about 60 degrees that day.

Of course we had to make our own gingerbread house at home. So much fun.

We always enjoy going to the live nativity at Tuacahn each Christmas. We went on the night that it started to get cold. My poor kids don't handle the cold very well. Brylie sat on my lap during the nativity and froze. But they did get to see Santa again - just in case they forgot to tell him something last time.

The week leading up to Christmas my whole family came into town. Two sisters from New Mexico, one sister from Salt Lake and a brother from Las Vegas. It was a fun, busy, crowded week. We took the kids to Jumpin Jacks one of the days. Brylie always has so much fun with her cousin, Gillian.

Poor Michael's birthday is on the 22nd, so he usually gets jipped for his birthday! I did manage to take him out to a nice dinner and then all my family sang him happy birthday.

The kids waiting to open presents from Grandma and Grandpa.

It was so nice to be able to spend time with my whole family at Chritmas time.

Pictures

2011-01-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

My amazing neighbor took the kids' pictures in November. We think she did an amazing job. Check out her photography blog at http://rdlens.blogspot.com

Halloween and Thriller

2011-01-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

Last week my blog book I had made came in the mail. I absolutely love it! That is why I am really trying to update my blog and be current on it as much as possible. It is so fun to look back at the begining of 2008 when I first started my blog and see what we were doing and how cute and little my kids were! I would highly recommend to anyone to get your blog made into a book.

Halloween and Thriller

Michael's Dad, the Klunkers and the Nolands all came down for Halloween this year. We went to Thriller at Tuacahn on Friday and it was so much fun. (Forgot my camera) This was the first year we let Brylie go and she loved it, though she did sit on my lap the whole second half. You forget how scary it can be! We had so much fun. I can't count how many times I have seen Thriller over the years, but I never get tired of it. I have seen it many times in Salt Lake and in Saint George, and I have to say that Tuacahn really makes the show. It is so much better here!!

Picking out our pumpkins to carve.

Our ward's trunk or treat was the night of Thriller, so we did it really fast, dropped the younger kids off at my parent's house and then ran over to Tuacahn.

Carving our pumpkins on Halloweeen.

Heiko was supposed to be helping the kids carve. Instead we caught him on the wiggle car.

See, now he's helping Cody carve his pumpkin!

Cody and Wesley were so cute with their tiny little pumpkins they chose to carve.

Showing off the finished products.

Sadie finally woke up from her nap in time to come out and eat a cookie!

Aunt Cammie did a good job on Cody's face for Halloween. He was so excited!

This is the only picture of Sadie with her penguin hat on. Don't think she liked it.

The girl cousins.

All the trick or treaters.

Cammie will probably kill me for posting this picture, but she was trying to get Sadie to wear her hat by showing her it wasn't so bad. Sadie still didn't buy it!

And of course, you always have to sort, count and trade your candy when you get home.

The next day Heiko made us a really good dinner. Michael helped a little too.

We had so much fun on Halloween. It is so nice to share holidays with family. Thanks for coming everyone!

My Birthday and Halloween Parades

2011-01-04T15:19:00.001-07:00

Wow 3 updates in one day! I even amaze myself sometimes! So read on to catch all 3 posts.

October 22 was my birthday. No need to mention how old I am. Some things are better left unsaid. We went to Red Lobster for dinner (minus the kids thanks to a babysitter). Then we came home and had cake and ice cream. Michael even surprised me with a cake!

Eryn and Warren came down for a visit. Eryn's side of the family was down for their timeshare and they stayed with us since the condo was crowded. We always love having them come visit. Baylee and Cody are only like 3 months apart. They don't know it yet, but they are going to get married. It's already been decided.

Brylie's dance team had the opportunity to dance at the preshow for Thriller at Tuacahn. We go to Thriller every year and she was so excited to dance at the preshow. We even bought a ticket for Brylie to go this year for the first time. She was a little scared at times... but she loved it!

Cody's preschool Halloween party. Doesn't he make a super spiderman!

Brylie's school halloween parade. What a stylin' flapper!

Hiking Timpanogos

2011-01-04T14:59:00.001-07:00

It doesn't rain too often in St. George, so when it does we tend to enjoy it!

We went to Dixie State's Homecoming Parade back in October. It was actually a really long parade. The kids loved it and got a lot of candy. That's what makes it a good parade, right?! Anyway, I realized that I only took one picture. Did I really need any other pictures? I think this picture says it all!

We went up to West Jordan in October to visit family and for our much anticipated hike of Timpanogos. I haven't hiked Timp since I was really young. I barely even remember it. Here we are the night before having a slumber party in the family room! Doesn't it look cozy?!

Then there is nothing better than a good old fashioned dog pile!

Here we are the next morning hiking Timp. And it was cold!!!! We were glad that we left Sadie at home with her Grandma. Poor little thing would have froze. Fortunately the more you hiked, the more you warmed up. It's amazing how exercise will do that.

We sure had fun and can't wait to do it again sometime!

My computer is back!

2011-01-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

We have had some major problems with our laptop lately and FINALLY it is working beautifully. Yeah! I have attempted to upload pictures to my blog on 3 separate occasions with no luck. It worked this time! So here comes some major updating.

Starting with the end of September.

We went camping at Pine Valley the last weekend in September. It was the last weekend before they closed the campground and the kids really wanted to go fishing.

Sadie has an obsession with tags. We can't cut the tags off of anything. She gets her fingers in her mouth and puts the tag up to her upper lip with her pinkie finger and holds it while she sucks her fingers. To each his own I guess!! Funny things kids do! She doesn't even care where the tag comes from (clothes, dishtowel, stuffed animal, camping chair) It doesn't matter. She was running around with a jump rope and spotted the tag on the bottom of the camp chair. I was setting up camp and turned around to see this. I had to get my camera.

I wish they were this loving to each other all the time. I'll just have to remember this picture when they are fighting!

Just up from our camp site was this fort. It was a dream come true!

Nothing like a good piece of watermelon.

That night we tried to fish a little, but the fish just weren't biting. Brylie had more fun with her pet worm.

It was the last weekend in September and even though it was nice in the day, it sure got cold at night!!

Sadie enjoyed fishing while sitting in her chair eating oreos. That's the only way to go in my opinion!

We had better luck the next morning and Brylie caught her first fish!

Grandpa brought marshmallow guns and the kids enjoyed littering the campground with marshmallows.

Sadie really enjoyed racing after them and eating the marshmallows off the ground. She apparently signed herself up for cleanup duty!

Missing You!

2010-12-15T14:03:00.001-07:00

Oh Blog how I have missed you!

I took you for granted for so long. You were always there waiting for me to update you and I never did. The good old days are long gone when I used to update you so frequently.

But.......I have turned over a new leaf!

I am going to be that good blog updater that we all love so much. You know, the blog that you can always check on and it has new pictures and witty things to say.

Ok..... I might get new pictures up, but I almost never have anything witty to say. I can at least try right?! I mean I am starting fresh here. Well here goes to some much needed updating and to a new future of regular updates!!

Why are you laughing.... I mean it this time!!!

Here goes! We went hiking this summer at Pine Valley. (Can't remember when we went, you know probably should've blogged this like 4 months ago!) Anyhoo, such a beautiful area. We loved getting out of the heat and enjoying a higher elevation.

We soon discovered that are kids really are no good at hiking! Come on, we love 'em, but really no good. Someone was whining, someone was trying to get out of her backpack and do it herself, and someone was hungry. We did have fun, but we did cut it short!

After the hike we had a picnic lunch, walked around the reservoir and then got ice cream at the gas station. All in all it was a good time!

And who can resist a picture of a naked baby! I know I can't - even if she is wearing my shoes on the wrong feet.

Cody and Sadie enjoying a little snack time on the back patio.

Stay tuned for more blog updates coming soon.

Quit laughing.... I am serious this time!!

Our 10 Year Anniversary

2010-10-22T14:37:00.000-06:00

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary on July 31st. I can't believe it has been 10 years. We were in the middle of moving during our anniversary, but we did manage to get away for a few nights to Las Vegas. We had a suite at the MGM and mostly just relaxed and shopped. It was wonderful to get away from the kids and from unpacking boxes!

We had lunch one day at the Rainforest Cafe and it was so good.

Of course we had to make a stop at M&M World. That place is crazy. It's like 4 stories of all M&M's. Yum.

Here is Brylie's first day of 1st grade. She was so excited. Brylie is such a little ball of energy and so social. We never worry about her being shy or making friends. She was a tiny bit nervous about going to a new school, but she quickly made friends and loves school. Her favorite part is recess!

I couldn't leave this picture out. Love that smile!

On Cody's first day of preschool he was extremely nervous. He and Brylie are complete opposites. Cody is our timid, cautious one. For the first 3 weeks of preschool, I would have to walk him to the door and literally peel him off of my arms as he cried. Now he loves preschool and he runs to the door by himself without even looking back! We've made some progress.

I love this picture because it shows just how hard work playing is when you pass out in the middle of the floor while playing pirates!

Summer Catch Up

2010-10-20T14:20:00.000-06:00

So many things have happened this summer that I have not blogged about yet. I am trying to get everything updated on here because I am having my blog made into a book and I want to be caught up! I have loved having this blog mainly for my own journal. Hopefully making it into a book will encourage me to keep it updated more often. I'm going to try anyway!

In June we went to Lagoon with some of Michael's side of the family. We had a blast!

Cody's first ride was the lady bug drop. I was suprised that he wanted to ride it. I don't think he knew what he was getting into! He did make it through and was a good sport about it, but I think it was a little more than he bargained for!

Cammie, Michael and Sadie. We hung out in kiddie land for quite awhile and managed to get in most of those rides. I didn't take very many pictures of Lagoon, but we did have a lot of fun. We went on Rattlesnake Rapids and I'm proud to say that I managed to stay pretty dry! Last year Cody wasn't tall enough for that ride, but this year he was. He was so excited to be able to ride it with all of his big cousins.... and he did get pretty wet!

The day after Lagoon everyone went boating, but Sadie wasn't feeling too well that morning so we didn't end up going with them. Our kids were so disappointed so we took them that afternoon to the museum at the University of Utah. They had fun digging for dinosaur bones.

I love Sadie hiding out in the teepee.

Crazy kids on a totem pole.

Brylie and Cody were doing a puppet show. I love this picture, because if you click to enlarge the picture, you can see little eyes peeking through.

They loved this dinosaur at the end because you could put money in its mouth and it would roar. I took a picture of it and a lady working there got mad at me for using a flash. Apparently flashes ruin the exhibits. Just so you know, don't use a flash in a museum!

We had some pretty good thunder storms this summer. Here in Southern Utah, we celebrate the rain! The kids had to get their swim suits on and play in it. It rained pretty good this time, as you can see Sadie is wading in a puddle in our backyard.

It aslo hailed. Brylie is holding a handful of it.

Brylie's Birthday

2010-10-05T15:24:00.000-06:00

Brylie turned 6 on July 11th!

I'm a little late (ok a lot late) getting these pictures posted, but I have a very good excuse!

My camera wasn't charged so I used Michael's camera to take all the birthday pictures. When he went hunting, he lost his camera on the mountain along with all of the pictures! Fortunately, my mother took a few pictures so I was able to get those at least. Thanks Mom!

Brylie got a new scooter for her birthday. She had been telling us for quite some time that she had grown out of her "baby 3 wheeled scooter" and that "she was old enough now for a Razor". You can tell by her face that she feels much older and more mature now on her Razor!

Loved her birthday cake this year! A neighbor made it and it tasted just as good as it looked!

Sadie is now the proud owner of a long forgotten 3 wheeled scooter..... and loving every minute of it. (As long as we are pushing her on it!)

These pictures kinda got out of order. Me and my sister at the splash pad with all of the kids, trying to keep cool!

Brylie and Cody on the 4th of July with the flag cake they made with Grandma Bassett.

Sadie and Garrett hanging out in their high chairs together. They were eating buddies that week. Sadie misses her eating buddy!!

Sadie and Grandpa Bassett eating birthday cake.

More scooter action!

5K

2010-09-20T14:58:00.003-06:00

At the very last minute, Cammie talked me into coming up and running a 5k this past weekend. We drove up Friday after school and and left Sunday night, so it was a really short trip, but so much fun. I had a blast running the 5k with Cammie, Kyla and Aysia. It was Cammie and Aysia's first 5k and they did so good!

Cammie and Aysia

Kyla and Nicole. Nicole did the walk with some friends. Maybe next year we'll talk her into the run!

This was us before the race started. It was so cold! I'm used to running at 7:00 am in St. George when it is 70 degrees. I wasn't prepared for how cold it was at 7:00 am up north!

I'm glad we decided to make the last minute trip up north. It was so fun to run with my sister-in-laws and niece. I ran my best time yet too! I did it in 27 minutes. Hopefully I can keep improving my time.

Did your morning look like this?

2010-09-16T12:13:00.002-06:00

Cousins

2010-09-14T13:46:00.005-06:00

In July my sister, Paula, visited with her three kids. My sister lives in New Mexico, so I don't see her very often. They were on their way to Disneyland and stayed the week until my brother-in-law, Greg, flew out to meet them and continued onto Disneyland. Brylie was so excited to see her cousin, Gillian. They are 9 months apart and have so much fun together. They were able to be here for Brylie's 6th birthday as well!

Cody and Garrett driving the firetruck at the mall.

For Brylie's birthday she got her ears pierced. She was so brave and didn't cry. Here she is sporting her new earings!

We also went to Jumping Jacks for Brylie's birthday weekend.

Grandma and Grandpa took us all swimming that weekend as well.

Michael's Dad bought a new toy hauler from a guy in St. George. Michael picked it up for him and we had it for a week before Wes could come down and pick it up. The kids had a blast playing in it in the front yard!

Lake Powell

2010-09-09T14:33:00.008-06:00

It has been so long since I updated on my blog. I can't use moving as an excuse anymore. We moved and are completely settled in now. Guess I better get updating on this thing again. I don't even know if anybody even reads it, but its a fun journal for our family anyway!

In June we went to Lake Powell with Michael's side of the family. It was cold, but a lot of fun!

Cody and Wesley were so cute together! Sometimes they were good buddies and sometimes they screamed and chased each other! I'm so glad that Cody has a cousin that is his age. (They are only 5 months apart!)

Showing off the frog they caught on the beach.

Grandpa and Sadie

Cammie is Sadie's second mommy.

Cody and Brylie showing off their glow accessories at night.

Grandpa and the kids (minus Sadie cause she was already snoozing in the tent).

Sadie loved the beach. She had so much fun in the sand and was fearless! Someone had to be watching her at all times!

On one of the cold rainy days, we drove over to the dam and took a tour of it. The kids thought that was pretty cool.

This was Cody's first time on the water weenie and he only wanted to try it with mom.

Brylie loved the water weenie but then she is always fearless! She and Josie even wiped out and went flying in the water and she still loved it and wanted to do it again.

My hot husband!

Sadie had some firsts at Lake Powell. This is her first pony tail (sprout). Look closely on the top of her head.

And this was her other first. My baby learned to walk at Lake Powell!! It was about time! (She was 14 months old!)

So much fun! Can't wait to get again sometime!

My friend's awesome blog

2010-08-18T14:43:00.002-06:00

Check out my friend's awesome blog about decorating. It's called All Things Thrifty and she is amazing. She decorates and refinishes furniture spending hardly any money at all. And the best part is, she explains everything she does!! She makes it sound so simple that even those artistically challenged like myself can figure it out!! Also she is always giving away tons of stuff in contests.

http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/

Seriously Neglected

2010-06-16T21:11:00.006-06:00

I have seriously neglected my blog lately. It's not because there hasn't been anything to blog about, but because we are too busy enjoying summer! Since updating has been on my to do list for quite some time and I cringe everytime I think of doing it, I am finally sitting down and getting this done. The longer I let it go, the harder it will be to get caught up. So here goes. Below is a brief summary of what we have been doing lately:

There has been swimming

And more swimming

And an occasional Midnight 5k run

(Thanks Erin I had a blast. Same time, same place next year!)

There have been community dance performances

Which wears us out!

A very important Kindergarten Graduation!

We're so proud of you girl!

And more dance performances.....

Which wears us out some more!

There has been roasting hot dogs and marshmallows in the back yard.

Gotta love smores!

And more swimming.....

Gotta cool off somehow!

And don't forget Mother's Day.

(Yeah, it's been that long since we updated)

There were trips to the park

And of course it wouldn't be summer without a local parade........

and winning a fish at the ring toss game.

Well, I'm tired and ready for bed. That will have to do for now for the updating. Stay tuned because there is definitely more!

Gardening with Grandma

2010-05-16T21:48:00.002-06:00

Two months ago we planted flower seeds in pots.

And then we WAITED and WAITED...

And they GREW and GREW!!

Finally we decided they needed to be transplanted from their small inside pots

to Grandma's garden.

Even Sadie got in on the action.

Dance Recital

2010-05-07T16:15:00.002-06:00

Last weekend was Brylie's dance recital. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. It seems like we just had her last year's recital. Fortunately I did take a few pictures of her recital since I forgot to take pictures at her competition. She did her dance really well and was so excited to get flowers. Now she thinks she should get flowers for everything. On the way home from her violin recital yesterday she asked me why she didn't get any flowers for that. Her future husband is going to have to be warned about this!!

Cody learning to ride his new tricycle.

We've been trying to teach Brylie to ride her bike without training wheels. It's about time since she is almost 6. Brylie is totally fearless at some things - like her favorite ride at Disneyland is Space Mountain. But other things she is scared to death. For some reason riding a bike on her own just isn't working out. She screams in terror each time we let go of the seat. We might have to trade in her wheels for a tricycle too!

Sadie Turns 1

2010-05-03T14:47:00.003-06:00

My little baby girl turned "1" April 14th! We love our Sadie so much. Especially her sweet smile she always has on her face (unless a stranger looks at her - she can really give you the stare down). Maybe its the fact that she is our last, but we sure have enjoyed Sadie as a baby. I really don't want her to grow out of this adorable stage she is in.

I love the way she uses her little fingers and concentrates so hard to play her new piano.

Happy Birthday Sadie!!

Easter

2010-04-26T20:55:00.006-06:00

We had a wonderful Easter in West Jordan this year. We always love to visit for conference and it just happened to fall on Easter as well. All of the family got together on Saturday for an Easter egg hunt, lunch and dying eggs. We had so much fun even though the weather was awful!! When we left St. George to drive up north the temperature was 60 degrees, by the time we drove 45 minutes north to Cedar City it was 40 degrees. And it just kept getting worse! We still had fun anyway.

Aysia and Sadie listening to the ipod together. Gotta teach them early!

We're not used to wearing hats and coats for Easter. What happened to the shorts and flip flops?

Michael's sisters have adopted me as one of them! I have the best sister-in-laws ever.

All the kids showing off their Easter eggs.

Sadie got pretty good at picking up the eggs herself.

Brylie showing off her ipod she got for Easter.

Cody's Birthday

2010-04-21T16:03:00.002-06:00

On March 27th my little boy turned 3! I can't believe how big he has gotten. He wanted a pirate birthday party because he wants to be a pirate when he grows up. He is really cute when he says "Arrghh Matey, shiver me timbers."

Michael and I made him a pirate cake. This was our first attempt at cake decorating. I think it turned out well considering our lack of experience. Makes me appreciate Cake Boss even more!!

Happy Birthday Codes!! My favorite things about Cody are his stubborn personality, his cuddliness and how he absolutely will not look at and smile for the camera. No matter what.

Why we haven't blogged lately

2010-03-26T16:34:00.003-06:00

We've been too busy enjoying the nice weather!

Surgery Day

2010-02-09T17:12:00.003-07:00

Today was Sadie's surgery day and we were so excited. Not for the surgery itself, but for what the surgery was correcting. Sadie has had a clogged tear duct since she was born that is really common, but hers never cleared up like most do. We were really tired of her waking up from nap and her eye would be glued shut. She always had a drip going down her face and people always asked if she had been crying. It's just been a nuisance. But not anymore!! Here I am holding her before her surgery trying to act brave. It's never fun to hand your baby off to the anesthesiologist and then turn and walk away. Do you like the dot on her forhead? They have to make sure they do the correct eye. Everything went well and she is home and recovering nicely. No more gooey eye for us!

The rest of this post is a bunch of random things we have done lately and I thought I would get caught up while I was on here.

A few weeks ago Michael took Cody to our little itty bitty St. George airport to see if they could see an airplane. Cody got some airplanes for Christmas and he is really loving airplanes right now. They were in luck and saw this Mig 15, an old Russian plane. Cody was in heaven.

Sadie just being Sadie - too cute for her own good.

Brylie went to a friend's birthday party at Pirate Island Pizza and when she came home, she and Cody wanted to play pirates. Cody was a pirate for Halloween so we had a pirate costume for him to put on. He has decided that he wants to have a pirate birthday party next month when he turns 3.

The kids were bored one day and this is what we found. I'm pretty sure my kids have OCD. Check out how they line everything up perfectly around the rug.

I think Brylie is wearing a Dorothy costume from the Wizard of Oz and tap shoes. We never know with her. Everyday is a surprise. She usually ends up in a dance outfit or costume everyday. When she wakes up in the morning the first thing she does is change out of her pjs into something interesting. It's a good thing she wears uniforms to school. I love that there is no negotiating involved with choosing her school clothes each day.

The kids were playing outside a couple of weeks ago and they came up with the idea of having a picnic. It wasn't even near a meal time, they just really wanted a picnic. I couldn't think of any excuses so why not. They enjoyed a wonderful picnic of cheetos and animal cookies on the sidewalk. Sounds fun to me! Ever since then they have wanted to have picnics for lunch all the time. It's been pretty rainy here lately and we haven't gone outside that much. Instead we put a blanket on the floor in the kitchen and they have a picnic there. And it totally works. They love it and eat all their lunch!

Last but not least, Brylie started taking violin lessons awhile back. I took these pictures the day she got her violin. She was so excited. The violin is so funny because it is so tiny. It is a 1/32 - the smallest you can get. It looks just like a toy! I think she is so cute playing it.

Christmas

2010-02-03T14:17:00.003-07:00

Christmas has come and is long gone, so I thought I better post my late Christmas pictures. We had a fun and crowded Christmas with my parents and my sister, Darlene, her husband, Jared, and their five kids. It's so fun to spend time with family and we enjoyed it.

My sweet little girls in their matching sweaters they got for Christmas.

Christmas morning

Cody is mesmerized by his new firetruck.

Brylie and her daddy spending a half hour taking all the little Barbie clothes and accessories out of the packaging. What a chore!

Sadie enjoying her two new gloworms.

Brylie sporting her new rollarskates.

This picture was taken Christmas eve after the kids had opened their new jammies. We had just driven home from Salt Lake and Sadie was not a happy camper.

Sadie preferred eating her presents as opposed to opening them.

Christmas was wonderful, but I'm sure glad it's over and I've finally posted about it!

Just Give Her a Pickle

2010-01-27T15:14:00.002-07:00

While we were in West Jordan before Christmas, Austin was sitting on the floor eating pickles. Sadie crawled over to him and watched him the whole time. Finally we told Austin to just give her one. So he did.... and she loved it! She sucked on it and played with it and when we finally took it away she cried and cried.

Who knew she liked pickles so much?!!

Christmas Party

2010-01-18T16:23:00.002-07:00

What: Family Christmas party
Where: Temple Square to see the lights
When: The last monday night before Christmas
How: Take trax train to Temple Square from 7000 South

If you don't see the problem yet, I'll explain further.

4 hours roundtrip
15 minutes looking at lights
30 minutes waiting for part of party to use the bathroom
.
.
.
.
.
.
THE REST OF THE TIME WAITING FOR THE TRAIN FREEZING TO DEATH!!!

Morale of the story..... never take trax to Temple Square on the last monday before Christmas...... seriously....NEVER!!!!

ENOUGH SAID!

A wee bit behind!

2010-01-18T15:58:00.002-07:00

Alright I might not be the best wife in the world and this might be a month late, but Happy Birthday Michael!! (Dec. 22)

We won't give Sadie a walker (we're really trying to limit her mobility) so she found her own. Her and this chair go many places together.

Christmas time activities

2010-01-11T13:49:00.005-07:00

A Christmas tradition I had growing up was going to the Nutcracker every year. I thought Brylie was old enough this year so we gave it a try and she loved it. We had to go to the local production of it since we are in St. George. It was still really good. Hopefully next year we can go to it in Salt Lake.

We don't see snow very often around here, so when the first snowfall came last month my kids were beyond excited. We rounded up some snow clothes (some of it hand me downs from cousins since we don't buy many snow clothes) and layered them on. I realized that I had way over bundled my children for the tiny amount of snow we had. Cody could hardly move. Kinda reminded me of the little brother in Christmas Story!

Thought it was funny to have a picture of a cactus with Christmas lights and snow on it (courtesy of the neighbors).

Snow angels (more like grass angels)!

We have yet to see any more snow here. Hopefully that was our one and only snow fall for the season.

Making a gingerbread house with cousins and Grandma Bassett.

Disneyland Part Two

2010-01-04T16:39:00.011-07:00

I took way too many pictures at Disneyland. Here are a few more of our fabulous vacation.

Stitch

Mulan

Goofy

Brylie was dying to get her face painted.

Alice and the Mad Hatter

Sleeping Beauty

Snow White

Cinderella

Brylie and Austin on the Jellyfish Drop

Tinkerbell

Silver Mist

Brylie remembered getting Cruella's signature last time we were at Disneyland and she was so excited to find her again. Cruella was so funny, she was disgusted that she had to sign Brylie's princess autograph book because she hates princesses.

Watching the fireworks.

Santa

Lightning McQueen

Mickey Mouse, Cody's favorite

Donald Duck

Sleeping baby

Dale (we got Chip's signature too)

Disneyland 2009 - Part One

2009-12-29T14:22:00.008-07:00

800 miles driven
7 adults
11 kids
4 day park hopper passes
5 nights at the hotel
2 all-nighters (thanks to a sick baby)
1 trip to a pharmacy
2 autograph books
20 signatures from Disney characters
8 ridiculously expensive meals
4 churros (yum!)
3 trips on Space Mountain for 1 very excited 5 year old
4 amazing firework shows
4 bench rides on the merry-go-round
1 time butting in line for Small World (I swear I didn't know!)
5 rides on California Screamer
6 bags of cotton candy
1 broken Pirates snow globe
1 new Pirates snow globe for a broken hearted 2 year old
1 awesome picture from Splash Mountain
166 pictures taken
2 very excited kids
2 very exhausted parents
1 sweet sick little baby

Brylie and Hadlie posing at the hotel. Look closely at the scene in the background.

We call it the takedown. "Take that! And don't you dare try to take my truck again!" I don't think Wesley will try to mess with Cody anymore.

Family Pictures

2009-12-13T15:55:00.014-07:00

Brooke Ulrich took pictures last month and did an awesome job. Check out her website at http://www.snatchandsnapphotography.blogspot.com/

The Jubilee of Trees

2009-11-25T21:47:00.002-07:00

You may know it as the Festival of Trees, but in St. George we call it the Jubilee of Trees. Same concept as it's northern counterpart, just a whole lot smaller. We enjoy our small town St. George festivities anyway!

Every year we go to the Dickens Festival (in St. George) just to get our pictures taken with the best Santa there ever was! We have pictures with this Santa every Christmas since Brylie was tiny. Unfortunately we will be in Disneyland this year during the Dickens Festival and won't get our annual Santa picture. (I almost considered cancelling Disneyland when I discovered this dilemma!) Michael talked some sense into me, and with much regret I had to settle for the Jubilee of Trees Santa.

What is the scariest thing you can think of for a 2 year old?................................................................

Well Santa of course. Think about it. Old guy with a weird outfit and a beard trying to hold you on his lap. If I was 2 I'd run and scream too! Which is exactly what my little boy did. After a lot of convincing and bribing, I was able to get him to be in the picture with me sitting on Santa's lap and holding Cody. He still wouldn't take the candy cane from Santa and I had to get it and give it to him later.

We also had the opportunity to check out the newest life flight helicopter for Dixie. It was fun to look inside and get in a real helicopter. The kids loved it.

Trick or Treat

2009-11-20T15:35:00.003-07:00

We had a fun Halloween trick or treating with cousins. First we went to my parent's ward trunk or treat. Thats the easiest and fastest way to get the most candy. And they got a lot of candy. Cody really enjoyed trick or treating this year, but that wasn't a suprise to us because candy really is his specialty. The boy has got a major sweet tooth. He walked right up to people and yelled trick or treat at the doors. If they held out candy to put in his bag he would bypass them and go to the candy bowl to pick out his own candy. We found out later when we got home that he was hoarding m&m's. Lots and lots of m&m's.

Sadie was a cute little cheetah. At our ward Halloween party I had painted a black nose and whiskers on her. After about ten minutes it was smeared all over her face from her finger sucking. I opted not to paint her face on Halloween.

I love this picture because I thought I had taken a nice cute picture of Brylie and Cody. After I loaded the pictures on the computer and looked at them closely I noticed Cody's face. He can be such a clown sometimes. Actually most of the time.

Colton had the Obama mask on as his costume and we got a lot of comments about it. One lady even gave him a whole bag of candy because she thought he had the best costume.

Cody carried his bag of candy the whole time. Even when it got really heavy. He wouldn't let anybody touch it for fear of never seeing it again.

Carving Pumpkins

2009-11-16T14:18:00.003-07:00

Michael's sister, Cammie, and her family came to visit for Halloween weekend. We had so much fun with them that we need to make it a tradition to do Halloween every year in St. George with them! On Friday night the adults went to Thriller at Tuacahn. It was sooo good! I have gone to Thriller many times over the years, but it is by far the best at Tuacahn. The setting there just adds so much!

Saturday morning we carved our pumpkins. These pictures are really out of order but you get the idea.

Cammie and Sadie.

Cheese!

Our cute little pumpkin!

For some reason Cody decided it would be fun to stick his tongue out in pictures now. He did it in a lot of the pictures for this weekend.

Cody attempting to draw the face on his pumpkin.

We love the Beach!

2009-11-11T16:59:00.004-07:00

My kids could spend days at the beach. That was their favorite part of our San Diego trip. We spent 2 days at the beach and they couldn't get enough.

There was only one problem. What do you do with a baby at the beach? Sadie hung out in her stroller or we carried her. We couldn't put her down or she would have eaten a lot of sand!

Nothing like a quick oreo break! Grandma brings all the good snacks!

Cody lived in the sand. He got in the water a few times, but mostly just did sand.

He's collecting seaweed in his bucket.

My brother, Carl and his son Ethan boogie boarding. They even convinced me to get out there and try it. It was so much fun!

Cody running from the waves. This was the first night at the beach and he wasn't so sure about the water yet.

We collected a lot of good seashells.

We love the beach and can't wait to go back again!

San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park

2009-11-07T15:57:00.005-07:00

Tired of being the forever hunting widow, I decided to do things different this year! While Michael was deer hunting, the kids and I went to San Diego. My parents, my brother and two of his kids went as well. We had a blast! I think this could become a good tradition..... fun vacations during the hunt!

On the second day in San Diego we went to the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park. It ended up being really hot that day, but we had fun anyway!

Cody and Ethan.

Brylie and Brooklyn.

They had a big hot air balloon that Cody thought was really cool. No we did not ride in it. At the cost of $70 we opted to just pose for pictures with it!

There was this really cool area where you could buy a small cup of nectar and feed it to the birds. The kids liked that a lot. Cody fed his bird for a second and then took his cup and dumped it upside down. Enough of that!

They also had fun in the petting area. We bought some food to feed the deer and the kids thought that was so fun the way the deer slurped it up with their long tongues.

Even Sadie got in on the action.

So much fun on the merry go round.

We had so much fun. We'll have to go back again sometime!

Sadie's Post

2009-11-04T10:34:00.003-07:00

Hey, remember me? I'm Sadie, but a lot of people call me the baby. I'm 6 months old now and though I may be small, I'm really starting to get things figured out.

I've learned that you can't lie around waiting for somebody to bring you a toy. It is much quicker to just get up and get it yourself.

Especially when you have an older brother and sister around.

Around here you have to speak up and get to your toy first! You snooze you lose around here!!

And Mom ..... well she's trying to keep up.

Uh oh! I'm think I hear Mom coming now! Can you believe she left the diaper bag on the ground? Rookie!

The Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-02T14:23:00.002-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Pumpkin Patch. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a blast. We even got Grandma and Grandpa to go with us!

There are so many fun things for the kids to do there. They had a blast. We even ran into some friends from our ward and Brylie had fun playing with them. Before we left, they wanted one ride on the cow train. It was so cute because we told Brylie to hold onto Cody because they get going pretty fast. She kept a tight grip on him the whole time! I love it when they are sweet to each other.

The Craziness Around Our House

2009-10-23T14:23:00.002-06:00

Fall is technically here, though we're still waiting for it in Southern Utah. We can now go outside during the middle of the day and enjoy ourselves! It's my favorite time of the year. Same old stuff going on here. Three crazy kids and two parents trying to keep up.

My sweet little one turned 6 months old last week and we thought it was time to try out the good old rice cereal. Hmmm..... does she like it?

Well, hopefully it will grow on her. Probably gonna have to get some baby food to mix in with it. The stuff just smells gross, I can't imagine what it tastes like!

We went hiking one evening and Brylie had fun in a little slot canyon.

Making Halloween sugar cookies and eating them of course. One of our favorite things to do.

I Wanna Be A Firefighter!

2009-10-13T14:24:00.003-06:00

Ivins City had a Safety Fair the other day and we couldn't wait to go. Cody is so excited about fire trucks these days. The kids had their picture taken with Smokey the Bear. Cody walked right up to him and gave him a high five!

The highlight of our evening was riding in the fire truck.

His face says it all!!

One morning while I was getting ready, Brylie came to me and asked me to draw her a Sleeping Beauty. I told her I wasn't sure I could draw Sleeping Beauty (her dad is more of the artist than I am). She then came back a few minutes later and asked me if I could cut out Sleeping Beauty because she says I am good with scissors. I told her I didn't know how to do that and kind of shooed her out so I could finish getting ready. When I was done getting ready I came out of the bathroom and found her with scissors and paper. She proceeded to cut out Sleeping Beauty with pieces of paper (like a pattern) and glue the pieces together. Then she colored it. She said, "See Mom, it's not so hard to cut out Sleeping Beauty!" I was so proud of her picture that I had to take a picture.

Cody is our money child. He likes to hold money, count money and put money in his piggy bank. He usually pats his dad's and grandpa's pockets to listen for the sound of change, and they usually give in and give him money from their pockets. I've never seen a child like him before. We were having family home evening one day and Cody of course had a penny in his hand. During the lesson there was a loud sound and the lamp went out. When we figured out what happened, we realized that Cody had taken his penny and stuck it in the floor socket where the lamp was plugged in. His hand was black and he was scared to death, but he was ok. We had to thank Heavenly Father that night for the protection of our little boy. Things could have been a lot worse. Needless to say, Cody is not allowed to walk around with money anymore. It goes directly into his piggy bank.

Here is the sacrificial penny.

Santa Clara Swiss Days

2009-10-09T15:00:00.005-06:00

There is nothing like a good small town parade. My kids sure enjoy them. High school marching bands, horses, fire trucks, and lots and lots of candy. Doesn't get any better than that.

Cody quickly learned by watching Brylie that waving your arms gets you more candy.

And candy we did get. We definetly don't need Halloween this year. We even got a frisbee and I got a Snow Canyon High School t-shirt as well. The t-shirt was rolled up when they threw it to me. When I looked at my lucky prize, I noticed it was a 3XL. Do I look like I wear a 3XL?.... Never mind, don't answer that.

Sadie enjoyed the parade in her grandpa's arms.

The kids sure enjoyed parade. I did too. I also enjoyed all the craft booths at the Town Hall afterwards.
Cheese!

Sadie has picked up a new habit of sucking on her toes. Yum!

Pine View Reservoir

2009-10-06T14:21:00.006-06:00

I haven't done a very good job at keeping my blog up to date, so I am going to try to do better. I'm going to try to get caught up over the next week or so. So here I go:

A few weeks ago we went to Pine View Reservoir with some of Michael's family. His sister Cammie and her husband Heiko just recently bought a boat after going quite a few years without one. The weather was perfect and we had a blast. Above is a picture of Cody helping to bury Colton in the sand.

The kids had so much fun playing on the beach. The beaches are so sandy and perfect for sand castles.

This was Brylie and Cody's first time on a boat. Brylie loved it and Cody didn't. Cody was so nervous when we took off. He yelled at his Grandpa to sit down in his seat. He didn't want anyone getting up. Then when we stopped to get Colton set up to wakeboard, Cody realized that the boat was floating in the water and he lost it! For some reason us floating in the water was not okay with him. Needless to say we soon took Cody back to shore where he happily stayed the rest of the day.

Here is Brylie and Austin going on the tube. Brylie is our little dare devil and she is always willing to try anything.

Michael's Dad, Michael, Kyla and Dave hanging out on the beach.

Brylie and Aysia swimming with their life jackets on. It was the end of September and the water was chilly. I guess kids will get in the water no matter what. The adults only got in the water when we had to so that we could ski.

Cody had so much fun on the beach. He literally played for 8 hours straight in the sand. He was so tired but he wouldn't nap or do anything else but play in the sand.

Michael wakeboarding. Fortunately there aren't any good pictures of me wakeboarding (cause I didn't get up for very long).

Brylie with some of her cousins and her Daddy on the boat.

Me holding Sadie on the boat. She didn't care for it either. Probably because the lifejacket wouldn't allow her to get her fingers in her mouth. She is a regular finger sucker. Please don't laugh at my farmer tan lines.

Grandpa and Sadie. He was so good to stay on the beach and take care of Sadie while we were out skiing. He took care of her wonderfully except for the diaper blowout incident where he had to call in reinforcement.

Hiking

2009-09-30T12:09:00.005-06:00

We went on a hike above the Dixie in St. George a couple of weeks ago. We've lived here 4 1/2 years and have never done this little hike. It was so fun and what a pretty view at the top.

Labor Day

2009-09-13T21:42:00.002-06:00

Our Labor Day plans didn't work out how we expected and we were not able to go out of town. So instead we spent Labor Day locally at the beach. I'm sure you're wondering what beach is local to St. George.... well Sand Hollow of course. And it's beach does live up to it's name. The kids had a blast playing in the sand. It had rained pretty heavily the night before so the sand was wet and the weather was cool (for St. George standards).

The kids getting water in their buckets for the building of their sand castle.

Brylie's expectations of a beach involve collecting seashells. So she was ecstatic when she found her own version of a seashell. A snail shell. It still counts in her mind.

Here is the finished product of their sand castle/structure type thing.

Cody's action shot while playing frisbee.

It wouldn't be a complete beach trip without writing your name in the sand.

Even Sadie enjoyed the beach.

The only downside was that we couldn't really get into the water because swimmer's itch was prevelant at the reservoir. Call me paranoid, but I didn't let my kids swim in the water.

August All Wrapped Up

2009-09-04T16:08:00.002-06:00

2 FIRSTS!!

Brylie's first day of school came with much anticipation. Unfortunately.... her first day of school also came with another first: STREP THROAT! So after a trip to the doctors and some yummy bubble gum medicine, Brylie was able to attend her first day of school. (On the second day of school after she was on her antibiotics for 24 hours and wasn't contagious anymore).

So here she is in her adorable uniform on the second day of school.

And here is Cody's school picture. He just has to do everything Brylie does.

2009-09-04T15:52:00.002-06:00

My sweet little girls!

The other day I finished exercising and came out to see this.....

They had pulled the big tub of stuffed animals out, dumped out the animals, and climbed inside the tub to watch cartoons together.

I love it when they do stuff together and don't fight. It's rare, but it does happen. That's why I took a picture of it. To remind myself how cute they can be together sometimes.

2009-09-04T15:37:00.004-06:00

4 MONTHS OLD!!

I can't believe SADIE is 4 months old already. Time is flying by. She is getting so big and I never want to forget how much I am enjoying this sweet little baby. What a fun age.

I love her cute chubby little body.... especially when she has just gotten out of the bath.

I love it when I pick her up and she takes her wet, slobbery, sucked on fingers and grabs onto my neck and holds on tight.

I love it when Michael can get her to laugh really hard. I love that she smiles almost everytime someone pays attention to her.

I love it that she has been sleeping through the night (all on her own doing) since she was 2 months old. What I don't understand is that she will only sleep in her bed at nighttime. During the day she sleeps much better in her swing or her mommy's arms or face down on the floor.... just not in her bed.

I love it that she rolls over everytime she is layed on her back, but gets mad after awhile from being on her tummy. I roll her back over and wonder why she just doesn't stay on her back if she hates her tummy so much. And as I'm walking off I glance back to see that she has rolled back onto her tummy again.

We love you Sadie girl!!

2009-09-04T15:22:00.002-06:00

While Daddy was away.... we decided to play!!

While Michael went bow hunting we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Bassett at the Fun Center. Here they are in the bumper boats. Cody found a ball floating in the water and made Grandpa drive over there to get it out.

Here he is proudly showing off his new yellow ball!

Grandma took Brylie in her boat. I had on white shorts and declined being the driver. Good thing.... 'cause they sure got wet!

Brylie and Grandpa zipping around the race track.

Aaaargh Matey! The cutest little pirate ever.

2009-09-04T15:10:00.002-06:00

The kids were playing in the sandbox one evening and they were hot and wanted to pull the little pool out. We were too lazy to get the pool set up so instead we let them climb in the waterfall.

Cody is graciously watering the flowers.
Cody figured out that it was fun and refreshing to stick his head in the waterfall....

.... and then watch the water drip off his forehead.

They've asked to do this everyday since then, but this was really a one time thing. I have to keep saying no 'cause I don't want them ever climbing into the pond and waterfall without us around. Kind of a safety hazard.

And this is what happens to little kids who don't obey.

Happy Anniversary

2009-08-27T15:49:00.007-06:00

I know I am really late with this post, but life has been busy lately. On July 31st we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary! In some ways it seems like it's been a long time and in other ways it seems like not very long at all!! Happy anniversary Michael. You're my best friend and I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else. Here's to growing old together and loving every minute of it!!

For our anniversary we sent to Zion Canyon. We stayed overnight in Springdale. Brylie and Cody stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, but this one came with us. She is such a sweetie, so we really didn't mind her tagging along.

These pictures are of the elk farm in Springdale. It looks like that elk is gonna eat Sadie.... it's ok, she can't see him anyway.

The next day we drove to Michael's hunting spot. He took a few minutes setting up his blind and checking his trail cam. Sadie helped of course.

We had a good time on our anniversary. Can't wait for next year. I'm trying to convince Michael that "10" is a big year and we need to go big!! We'll see.

Last but not least...

Sadie is taking after her big brother. She has become a finger sucker!

The 24th of July

2009-08-07T14:38:00.000-06:00

Brylie is 5!

2009-08-04T14:26:00.006-06:00

This may be a bit belated.... but my beautiful little girl turned 5 on July 11. Happy Birthday Brylie!!! I can't believe how fast 5 years went by.

Brylie got to choose where to go for her birthday dinner, so of course she chose Pirate Island Pizza. She was so excited to be sung to that she told the waitress herself that it was her birthday.

The whole crew singing to her.

After we blew an absurd amount money on games and ended up with a few dollar store toys, we came home for cake and presents. Cody couldn't wait to eat cake. Probably because he didn't eat a bite of dinner at the restaurant.

Brylie's Fairytopia cake that she picked out.

Blowing out the candles.

She got a dollhouse for her birthday that she absolutely loves.

Spoiled!!

One of her favorites was a real guitar. She just loves Taylor Swift and Hannah Montana and wants to be just like them. Someone just needs to teach us how to play it.

Here is Cody trying to play it when he thinks none of us are watching.

How cute!

There aren't any words for this.....

And last but not least, I wanted to leave you with the cutest thing you've ever seen!

Gone Fishing!

2009-08-02T16:56:00.003-06:00

We have been promising Brylie for months to go fishing ever since she got her new Barbie fishing pole. We just hadn't had the right opportunity to go with the birth of Sadie and all. Finally, a couple of weeks ago we planned a short fishing trip. We got up early one day and drove up through Zion Canyon, through the tunnels (Brylie's favorite part) and down a dirt road for a really long time until we arrived at Navajo Lake.

Brylie kept asking over and over again if we were there yet. Towards the end of the drive we noticed how quiet and peaceful it had become. Then we looked in the back seat and saw this.

After getting them up, we found a place to fish and started getting set up. It was actually really cool and we needed jackets! It's been a long time since we've needed jackets.

Brylie wasn't too interested in the actual fishing. Too much sitting and waiting involved. So she found a pet caterpillar to play with.

The wind started to pick up and poor Sadie had to stay bundled up in her car seat. She does not appreciate the wind.

Michael is getting Brylie's pole ready and they are getting set up.

I had an umbrella to set up and protect that sweet little bald head from the sun, but the wind was too strong to set it up.

The wind started getting stronger and stronger. I ended up taking Sadie up and sitting in the car with her because she kept getting her breath taken away in the wind.

Finally, after a few 50 mph wind gusts of chairs and fishing poles flying, we decided to give it up. Better luck next time. To finish off the day we drove down to Cedar City and had lunch. Next time I think we'll stay at one of the cabins at Navajo Lake so we can fish early before the wind picks up. Still it was an adventure.

The Difference Between Brylie and Cody

2009-07-29T20:53:00.002-06:00

Brylie and Cody may look alike, but their personalities couldn't be any more opposite. It really became obvious the other day when I took their pictures.

This is Cody's approach to picture taking.

Hide and maybe we'll give up and go away.

And this is Brylie's approach to picture taking.

Strike a pose!

The 4th of July!

2009-07-20T16:29:00.005-06:00

I love the 4th of July! Of course I love pretty much all holidays too! My parents were in Cedar City for their 40th wedding anniversary for the Shakespeare Festival. We decided to go up the night before the 4th and join them in Cedar City. We got a hotel room next to theirs and then went to dinner and swimming that night. The next morning we got up and went to the parade. I love parades and so do my kids (for the candy reason).

Cody liked the big tank.

We had fun and of course the kids got more candy than they do on Halloween!

After the parade we went to the park and let the kids play in the bounce houses.

Cody found one with basketballs. His favorite. We had a hard time getting him away from it. He really did like it .... you wouldn't be able to tell from the look on his face!

Brylie going down the big slide.

Brylie would rather swing than do the bounce houses. Wish we had known that before we paid for her unlimited bounce house pass!

After lunch at an interesting pink mexican restaurant in Cedar City, we went drove back to St. George. We had a yummy bbq that night and Brylie helped me make a flag cake.

She really can't help the posing. It just comes natural I guess!

We did lots of fireworks that night and it turned out to be a really fun 4th of July!

2009-07-20T15:41:00.002-06:00

We got together with my Dad's side of the family at my Aunt Sylvia's house in Fruit Heights. It was good to see a lot of family that we haven't seen for a long time. I wish we could have stayed longer to catch up with everyone!

My Dad carried Sadie around with him the whole night. He was very stingy and didn't hardly let anyone hold her!

Brylie and her cousin Gillian are two peas in a pod. I wish we lived closer to them (my sister lives in Albaquerque). Those two really love playing with each other.

Sadie's Blessing

2009-07-14T13:54:00.006-06:00

While we were visiting West Jordan we had the opportunity to bless Sadie. We blessed her at Michael's parent's house and were able to have family members from both sides there. It was such a nice day that we had the actual blessing outside in the backyard. Everything worked out perfectly.... good friends and family and good food!

Our sweet little angel. The white blanket she is sitting on was a special present from my parents. They bought it when they went to Israel. The blanket is from Bethlehem and has a really special story that goes along with it. I'm glad we had the opportunity to bless Sadie with this blanket.

Sadie and Daddy after the blessing.

Me and Michael's sisters. I fit right in. I am so lucky to have such cute sister-in-laws. They treat me like one of them and I feel so comfortable around them. (Which could be either a good thing or a bad thing!)

Grandpa Dutson and Sadie.

Grandma and Grandpa Bassett holding Sadie.

Grandma and Grandpa Dutson with us and Sadie.

Lagoon

2009-07-12T14:18:00.010-06:00

My whole family made it to Lagoon together during the family reunion. Growing up, we took quite a few old western pictures from Pioneer Village. We thought we would try to get our pictures again and were amazed that they were able to fit us all in! It went surprisingly fast getting all of us in costume. It was well worth it. We love the picture!

Wicked holds nothing over Puff .... just ask Michael!

A little scary having her as the driver!!

Dripping wet after Rattlesnake Rapids. Fortunately Cody wasn't tall enough to ride, so I graciously agreed to stay back and snap the photos!

Cody and Ben driving their spaceship.

Brooklyn, Gillian and Brylie driving their spaceship.

We had a blast at Lagoon. Can't wait to go back!

Family Reunion

2009-07-09T15:06:00.003-06:00

The last week of June we went up to Salt Lake for a family reunion. My side of the family was meeting up there. My two sisters and their families came from New Mexico, my brother and his family came from Las Vegas and my parents and us came up from St. George. We all got together for my parent's 40th anniversary.

The second day there we went to Hogle Zoo.

Sadie enjoying the monkeys.

I remember drinking out of that lion drinking fountain when I was little!

Brylie breaking out of her shell.

Happy Father's Day

2009-07-06T14:28:00.003-06:00

I may be a little late on this post, but HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!! I just wanted to let Michael know that I think he is such a wonderful father. He is so good at changing diapers (even the stinky ones), giving the kids baths, and most importantly he loves to play with his kids. They love their daddy so much!

I also want to wish my dad a happy father's day as well. He is such a good dad and grandfather. He is so good with Brylie and Cody. They just love their grandpa.

Happy Father's Day dad and Michael! We love you!!!

Poor guys, they got this small store bought cake for father's day. We were leaving town the next morning for a week long family reunion. We were too busy packing and getting ready for our trip that we didn't have the time or energy for anything else. But honestly, the cake was actually pretty good!

Check out our photo shoot!

2009-06-18T14:49:00.017-06:00

Our photographer was awesome! Check out her blog at:

http://photographybytiffanyd.blogspot.com/

Two Months Old

2009-06-14T14:45:00.005-06:00

My little girl is two months old today! Time is going by so quickly. It makes me sad to see her growing up because she is my last baby and I want her to stay my baby forever.

We haven't been up to anything too exciting lately. Just riding bikes, swimming, etc. We're enjoying the usual summer stuff.

Cody wants to ride a bike like Brylie, only he can't reach the pedals. He does a lot better on his wiggle car.

I started taking the kids to the downtown splash pad in St. George instead of the one by our house. Cody especially enjoys it and calls it the "new one". He likes that there are places that the water doesn't spray you in the face.

Of course there had to be at least one posing picture of Brylie!

Gymnastics

2009-06-11T22:21:00.004-06:00

I decided to start Brylie in gymnastics this summer. She has so much energy and I thought this would be something good for her. She absolutely loves it. I took some pictures of her trying different things. I was surprised at some of the things she could do on her first try.

Walking down the balance beam backwards.

She is really good at the posing. (They call it a salute)

On the rings. I was really surprised she could do that. She doesn't have much upper body strength.

She had to climb the wall into a hand stand.

Getting her gold medal. She was so excited about that!

And I couldn't leave out a cute little picture of Sadie. She is growing up so fast. She smiles a lot now and has even started rolling over.

Memorial Weekend

2009-06-02T15:21:00.005-06:00

*Warning* Long post! I took a lot of pictures that weekend - I only posted the best pictures, but still there is a lot!

Michael's sister and their family came to visit us for Memorial Weekend. We had so much fun with them. The nice thing about the weekend is that we didn't do too much, we just hung out and had a good time doing nothing! Here are some highlights of our weekend:

My cute sister-in-law, Cammie, holding Sadie. She adopted Sadie for the weekend and spoiled her rotten. I don't think she was ever laid down once!

The kids playing Wii. They played Wii a lot that weekend. Brylie became a really good bowler!

We did venture over to the swimming pool. Us adults opted out of the swimming, and instead watched from the sidelines. The kids had fun. Colton was so good taking care of Cody for us. He carted him around the pool and helped on the slide over and over again. Thanks Colton!!

Brylie, Austin, Colton and Aysia posing at the pool. We couldn't get Cody to quit going down the slide and hold still for a picture.

The kids were never bored. They always managed to find something to do. First they found that riding the wiggle cars down the steep side hill of the house was fun! Fortunately nobody got hurt. Then they started playing in the sandbox. The sandbox became quite the event over the weekend.

It started out innocent enough with just a little water and sand.

Then they decided to make a canal and fill it with water. They dug down to the dirt and were getting a little bit dirty.

See what I mean. She really was never put down. Not even while sleeping.

Later, they wanted to work on their canal some more so we had them get in their swimsuits to not ruin their clothes.

The canal got bigger and bigger and they got wetter and wetter. Then muddier and muddier.

Pretty soon it was just a big mud bath.

Cody coming in for his bath.

We did eventually get them all cleaned up.

On Monday, before they went home, we visited the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum. It was fun to see all of the animals.

Our family picture together.

The Klunker's family picture.

Cute Brylie Boo.

Posing by a polar bear.

I loved this picture because of Cody looking through the binoculars. Does he really know how to use them?! Either way it sure is cute!

Thanks for the relaxing weekend you guys! We loved having you visit and you are welcome anytime!!

Preschool Graduation

2009-05-30T11:14:00.004-06:00

Our little girl is growing up! On May, 19th Brylie graduated from preschool. We are so proud of her progress this year! She was so excited to graduate because she can't wait to start kindergarten.

Here she is with a few of her friends that were in her class. Her teacher did a really cute program for graduation. It was fun to see some of the songs that they learned this year.

This is kind of hard to see, but this is when she was called up to get her graduation bag from her teacher.

She is proudly holding her bag. In it is her science journal that they worked on for the year, and her scrapbook that her teacher put together of all of her really nice projects.

We're so proud of you Brylie! You amaze us everyday!! We love you!!

Mother's Day

2009-05-28T14:09:00.005-06:00

I had a really great Mother's Day this year. On the Saturday before Mother's Day we went to Las Vegas with my parents and met my brother and his family at Mandalay Bay. The kids loved the aquarium. I had never been there before and it was really fun.

Brylie's classic pose.

Ben, Brylie, Cody and Brooklyn. At least Ben and Brooklyn are smiling. My kids look like it's their mug shots!!

The kids with Grandma.

Cody and his daddy.

I promise my kids had fun. You wouldn't know it from their faces!

Brylie's favorite part was petting the sting rays.

It was a lot of fun, but the best part was the Cheesecake Factory afterwards!