Half a year all summed up...again!

I have been debating on how to do the order of my smileboxes and I decided to do it from January, where I left off, up until now. Most of the reason that I blog is for my own personal sanity because it makes me feel good knowing that my pictures are "safe" somewhere in cyberspace on the Internet and can't get burned, or destroyed somehow. I am saying this because a lot of people blog cute little sayings that they want others to know what they are thinking about. I want to let everyone know that I am really just doing this for me. And I don't have any real deep thoughts or anything to share with you other than what my family has been doing and a LOT of cute pictures of which I am addicted to. I probably sound like I am babbling right now, and that's because I am ready to post all these pictures finally. It has taken me a while to find the time to put them together, and now that it is summer, I have actually found some of that time! Anyway, I do have some fun things that have happened from January until now and I don't feel like writing about a single one. However, most of it is on my smileboxes...The coolest ones I think are well, snowboarding of course (I put in a few gruesome pictures of Travis's accident). The Birthday ones are fun, I really like the Disney Program because Kelsey is darling in it and she is Minnie Mouse! Tyson's cowboy school program of what first graders want to be when they grow up is really cute too. Our funnest camp trip so far this year has been at Palisade State Park and I have some great pictures of it so you can check those out. Okay I personally think all of my smileboxes are pretty cool. I am going to be adding a few more later too. Mckay just won the championship game for the Majors in county baseball which is awesome...and I had to get some pictures of that too. Also my sister just had her sweet baby boy and he is perfect! So I will post a picture of that if it is okay with her later. Well here's to making my scrapbooking life easier! Enjoy.

Snowboarding

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Grandma Guernsey's Funeral

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Memories in January and February

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Tyson's 7th Birthday

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Fun times in February and March

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Kelsey's Disney Program

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Easter

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Kelsey's 9th Birthday

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Spring Activities

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May

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Palisade State Park

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Tyson's First Grade Programs

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Mesquite Memorial weekend

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Now we've got the kids hooked! Yay!

Tyson and Kelsey just finished their second snowboarding lesson and they love it! Their first day they just got comfortable with their boards and learned how to ride with one foot out of the binding. They went on the lift once with the instructor and went down the hill once with both feet strapped in. I think I made their instructor a little crazy, because I kept interrupting the lesson. First I thought for sure Tyson was not "goofy" footed and that he should be strapped in regular, but the instructor assured me that this was what Tyson wanted. Then Tyson's goggles were falling off his head, so I came to the rescue. Then at the end of the lesson I guess I was suppose to wait in a line to hear how my children did, because when I showed up and said "So how'd they do?" I got a very annoyed look from the instructor. Then he turned to a different kid's mom to tell her how her kids did. Eventually it was my turn to be informed about the day's progress. (If you have ever seen Meet The Parents, the flight attendant is how I describe the first instructor!!) Anyway, I liked the second day much better!! The second day they went down the hill several times and even got on and off the lift all by themselves without their instructor! Yes, I was a basket case the first couple of times watching them get on the lift. But they really have the hang of it! It is the cutest thing to watch! There is a spot on the "bunny hill" that Travis and I hiked up to so that we could take pictures and watch them learn. There was even a padded big wooden case that we sat on and Whitney took a nap on. It worked out perfect! We are taking them back next week for their third lesson and have recruited some of their cousins to try snowboarding too. It is going to be a lot of fun seeing them all up there on the hill!

Learning the "falling leaf" or the "garland" Good job guys!!


I love this picture! The second day was not as busy, so Kelsey and Tyson were the only students the instructor had. It was like a private lesson!


I can't believe they weren't afraid to get on the lift by themselves!


Away they go!


...SOOO Cute!



I thought they would be tired after the lesson was over, but they wanted to keep going down again and again!


They've got it down now!


Whitney played with her friends while their siblings took lessons. They had just as much fun as the snowboarders I think!


The second day that Kelsey and Tyson had lessons, Whitney's friends weren't there. So she played in the snow a bit and then fell asleep!

My Amazing Grandma Guernsey

My sweet grandma passed away early this morning, January 24, 2010. I loved her so much. She was such a great example to me. She was adventurous, loved her family, and passed on the love of learning and the importance of education to not only her own children, but her grandchildren too! She never let obstacles stand in the way of something that she wanted to accomplish. She has lived an amazing life and I hope that when I am in my 80's I will have at least half of the energy that she had! She was always supportive of everything I did and seemed to compliment me all the time on everything...from the way my kids looked and acted on a certain day to the complexion of my face...I guess that's what grandmas are suppose to do, but it always seemed so heartfelt and made me feel better about myself! It was nice to look back on all of my pictures that I have of her. I know that she is overjoyed right now to be reunited with her family that has passed on before her, but I also know that I will miss her a lot! I am so grateful that all of my kids have had the opportunity to know her. I was definitely blessed to have had such wonderful grandparents.

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A lot of summing up to do... And Whitney's 3rd B-Day!

Geez! It has been a while! The only way I know how to sum it up quickly is with those wonderful smilebox scrap books so here you go! Anyway the holiday season was really nice. We are so blessed to be able to spend all of the holidays with our extended family. There are so many of us and we all live so close! How often does that really happen? This new year is off to a great start and our only complaint right now is "we need more snow!" Travis, Mckay, and I have been going snowboarding a lot this winter and we just found a super deal for lessons for Kelsey and Tyson. I think that it is such a fun family thing to do. Now instead of wishing I was in Hawaii I really get excited about snow storms. Just kidding, I still would love to be in Hawaii! This past fall Tyson has surprised us at how good he is in his karate class, I love to go and watch him. Kelsey tried out gymnastics and is now beginning piano lessons. She had her first lesson on Monday and has been really good at practicing. Well, its only been three days, so we'll see! Mckay was playing football which ended just in time for snowboarding. He is so athletic and enjoys playing any kind of sport. You can guess which class he likes the best at school and which class I hear the most stories about! He still loves to help his grandpa feed the cows and horses or get wood for him. I know his secret though, it is his one sure way of getting out of our loud house full of little kids! He helps out a lot with Whitney though. It is really cute to see them together! Whitney just celebrated her third birthday and I think I just might cry when she goes to preschool! I tell everyone with three kids that thinks they're done having anymore..."What if you miss out on your Whitney?!" I don't know what we would have done without her. She always makes us smile!

Labor Day:

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Fall Activities:

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Halloween:

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Thanksgiving:

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Snow Fun:

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December Parties:

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Christmas Day:

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The New Year 2010:

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Whitney's THIRD Birday!

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It Was Whitney's birthday on Janury 5th and we had such a fun time. I decided to write a few things (okay, a lot of things) about her. This age is priceless and very entertaining! Whitney loves to sing to Old McDonald Had a Farm and the Ants Go Marching (#1&10 on the CD in my car). She tells me which number she would like to listen to. I think its funny, kind of like everything else she does! She has a little lisp when she talks that hopefully will go away with time, but it is the sweetest thing to hear. She says "Kelthee" instead of Kelsey and she has her tongue out between her teeth when she says it and other words with an "s" sound. Her favorite princess is Ariel (right now anyway) Even though she wanted a Princess and the Frog birthday. She still is not totally potty trained....so close, but I blame me for not wanting to trust her in underware. She is really good at writing the letter w and it ends up everywhere, even Tyson's homework. She is also really good at drawing her version of a face. The teeth are a bunch of lines inside what looks like an ovalish mouth. Her favorite books right now are The Big Hungry Bear and The Very Cranky Bear. She still loves learning new Spanish words from Dora and I keep kicking myself for not remembering much from two years of Spanish in highschool. She also has just started watching Max and Ruby (a...dumb...bunny cartoon with a song that stays in my head for days!) She has a leopard Webkinz that she named Baby Jaguar (from Deigo). Her favorite thing to eat is still chicken nuggets and she really likes to eat dill pickles lately. Sad to say, but she has developed a taste for Coke thanks to Travis and Mckay. Yuck! She has about 3 blankets all of which need to be present before she goes to sleep at night (her green blankey (sometimes called her purple blankey), her pink blankey, and her blue heart blankey). It is a trick to get them into the laudry, somehow they mysteriously disappear from my dirty laundry pile! She loves to play hide and seek, High-ho-Cherry-O, Memory, and Candyland. She is always asking to have a friend over and she is just turning 3. What is it going to be like when she starts going to school?! She (if you haven't guessed) is a little spoiled and used to getting what she wants. So sometimes she cries if something is not going how she wants it, or if someone is playing with something that she really wants. So I am working on that...a little, usually the kids that play with her give it back before I can intervene and tell her to share. Apparently she has taught everyone well! Uh oh is all I can say! She wants to be the one that blesses the food evey time and is just starting to accept that her brothers and sister should get a turn. Even though I think she is not bowing her head but pouting! She has a whole other year to go to Nursury, so I really don't care if she doesn't like it and wants to go with Travis and me instead. What's a few less germs. Lately, when I do go in with her to nursury, I think it is so sweet when she is sitting on my lap, or holding my hand while I fill up the water pitcher, or following me into the bathroom. Time flies by way too fast! I can't picture myself without a little one yet.