great to be eight

So my baby turned 8! It still seems insane to me that he is that old, although sometimes he acts so much older. :) 

We've decided for big birthdays (8 and 12) we won't spend money on a friend birthday party and get them an extra big present. (Although I'm still trying to decide how exactly we want to do birthday parties... doing 5 most summers just seems like PURE MADNESS! My sister-in-law gave me a great idea that her family used to do (each year the child could choose between a big friend birthday party OR a night out with just the parents and pick a few presents together), but Seth doesn't seem convinced of it yet. So if anyone else has great ideas, let me know. :)

Anyways... the reason I explained that is because since there was no official birthday party, I don't hardly have any pictures of Easton and his birthday. 

Birthday Breakfast (Yes, that is a doughnut. Krispy Kreme to be exact. Hey, what the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets.)

Then a week later we had his baptism. It was a beautiful and perfect afternoon. Despite being late, (I won't blame anyone, but will say that it was not my fault :) and not getting a picture of Easton and Seth before. :( Seth got one on his phone but we're still figuring out how to email them. 

and no, Seth is not going bald. He just shaved his hair with the shortest clippers and this picture makes him look bald. :)

And I will share this tip for all those who have future 8 year olds ;)-

I got some cardstock in a couple shades of blue and cut them into about 5x7, then while Easton and Seth were changing after the baptism, I asked everyone to write down thoughts and/or their testimony for Easton to keep. And my sister Mandie played music during this time. The next morning Easton and I read them together and it was so special. I loved reading all the encouraging words, advice, testimonies and everything else. And he just couldn't wipe the grin off his face while reading them too. So special and I'm so glad I did it!

Happy Birthday my Baby Boy!!

st. george

The weekend before school started we went to St. George with my sister Ginger and her husband. It was way too short but relaxing (as relaxing as life can be with 5 little boys) and super fun.

 See that tiny little opening behind us? The boys and I climbed up thru there. Crazy! Good thing I'm not too claustrophobic. :)

 We also went swimming and Ginger and Curtiss let us go out to dinner one night, and we even we able to leave Brock! Fun. Fun. Fun. Can't wait to do it again when the boys will have a cousin to play with too. :)

1st and 2nd

The older boys started school last Monday. They are now both going for the full day! Crazy! They both seem to enjoy it enough. Easton's teacher is a yeller, like a mom heard her yelling on the first day :(. However, when I asked him about it, he said "Yeah, she yells. But just at Kaden and the bad kids." So I guess she won't be yelling at him. ;)

Cole doesn't really tell me much about whether he likes or doesn't like things. He just tells me facts... so I guess we'll see when he finally reveals his emotions about it.

Here's some pictures of them on the first day-

some summer fun, part 2

Here's another little update of recent life around our house.

Not only has this adorable little guy continued to be the best baby ever, but he has started rolling over like crazy! I put him down on his back and he is immediately on his tummy. He pushes up with his arms and starts to look around, like he's ready to take off crawling any minute. I can already tell he's going to keep me on my toes for the next 18 years. :)

A couple weekends ago, the boys and I went to Snowbird where my Aunt Martha had rented a condo for family to go spend time with my Abuelito. It was tons of fun! However, with Seth gone at a camp with young men, that left me to do all the fun activities (Alpine Slide, Huge Bouncy Tramps, Mechanical Bull) with the boys so I couldn't take any pictures. So here are the only pictures I took.

Brock with cousin Levi (my brother's son)

Future best friends and college roommates :)

(Levi is about 2 months younger than Brock.)

 Trey could not stay away from the camera

 We had a baby shower for my little sister Ginger (the sister who I still sometimes think of as 16! I can't imagine what it will be like when my youngest sister is becoming a mom. AGGHH!!)

She's due in less than a month now with a boy. Yes, that will make 8 grandsons for my parents and 0 granddaughters. Crazy! (And get this, Seth's parents have 9 grandsons and 0 granddaughters! What?!)

What a gorgeous mom-to-be she is!

 My sister-in-law, Tara and youngest sis, Linda. Beautiful, right?

 Trey showing off the little favors

   

 And here's my boys showing off the extra favors.

 By the time I grabbed my camera, Easton had eaten a lot so he said he'd make it look like a goatee. :)

Can't believe school starts in less than a week!! Crazy!

some summer fun

I still can't believe it's August! The summer has flown by and I haven't done near as many things as I was planning on. My poor boys. Next year when I don't have such a small {nursing} baby, I am totally making it up to them. 

Here's a little bit of the few things we've been up to:

Baseball. Baseball. And more baseball. In May and June, both Easton and Cole were in baseball so we had games every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night. Can't even imagine how it will be in a few more years.

Waiting for homemade baked donuts to bake. First recipe I tried was a complete failure - on the recipe's part, not mine. :) Second was actually quite yummy. Not as good as real ones, but anything is better fried, so I wasn't expecting anything TOO great.

Lighting and watching fireworks

 Seven Peaks. Many times. (Thanks to our Pass of All Passes. :)

Yes, I realize there are no pictures of Cole. I only remembered my camera one time and it happened to be the same day Cole was tripped (by someone who shall remain nameless) and got scraped up so he spent most the time out with me.

 Loving the Best. Baby. Ever. He is 3.5 months and already sleeping from 8:30 til at least 5, sometimes 6. So crazy to me. My other boys weren't doing that til at least 6 months, sometimes much later. And he just did it all on his own. I did nothing to try and help that happen, except maybe pray a lot. ;)

Peyton finally got to play some baseball. He was always asking me when he'd get to play and I was able to find a Start Smart Baseball for 3 year olds. He loved it.

Playing a whole lot together. We haven't turned the Wii on all summer long (except the first week when I decided I was not going to let the whole summer be like that) and I've loved seeing their imaginations go crazy. :) They've invented so many games and done so many things together that weren't happening when the Wii was on. Surprisingly there has also been a whole lot less fighting. I love everything about taking the Wii away. :) It is now just something we will only turn on when we're all playing together. Mario Kart anyone?
This is Trey's idea of playing with Brock. So sweet of Trey to include him.

I'm really hoping to take full advantage of the last 3 weeks we have before school starts and have lots more fun.