Day Camp

4-25-26 Once a year the scouts get to go to a fun day camp and pass off a whole bunch of stuff in their scout books and by the look of this picture you can tell Degan had a good time!!

California Girl

Guess who came to Vegas for a visit!! Tiff & I went into Vegas to meet up with Robyn & Chenee for dinner and a fun girls gab session that lasted until 12:00am and we didn't get home until after 1:00!! It was so worth it and so needed! There is nothing like old friends who can laugh at all the silly things you did in high school and give perfect advice for whatever you're going through now cause you know that they will always be there for you in the future!!
P.S. The getting up at 6:00am was a bad idea, I totally took a nap that day!!

Easter Palooza

4-17-2014 The parks & rec had an egg hunt out at the fair grounds. I thought about skipping it but just the mention of candy and the kids were begging to go so of course we headed down there for the festivities! They had the kids split up by ages so I just followed Dax around and he was in heaven with so many eggs just thrown onto the grass the only problem was he wanted to open every egg as soon as he picked it up he did quit get that you get as many as you can and than open them!! but whatever it was still fun!

4-19-2014 This years annual Easter get together was at Bob & Sheryl's! The kids colored eggs at Grandma & Grandpa Smith's in the morning before the BBQ! We set up tables in the garage and let the kids dye their dozen eggs, it's a good thing we were in the garage Dax & Braxton made a huge mess splashing and knocking a few of the cups over!! After the morning fun we headed over to the Hillstead's for an egg hunt, yummy food & family fun!!

Spring Break

4-16-2014 Spring break started out with Degan & Dustin staying a few nights with Ethan & Evan than Ty & Torrey came out to stay and we took them to the lake to do some swimming & a campfire! To our surprise the lake had receded so much that it left a big ol mud pit for the kids to play in! The kids had a ball covering themselves in mud from head to toe! After we cleaned up the muddy mess we ate dinner, started the fire, fixed some smores and Darin & Ty told the kids a scary story about a chupacobra! Dustin was totally freaked out and plugged his ears the whole time!! Good Times!

4-18-2014 The baby of the Spoerri family was in Cedar playing some water polo so the kids and I picked Grandma Smith up and cruised up there to watch Tristan play! I've only watched a handful of polo games so I don't quit get it but once again if somebody I know is playing it's exciting!! and Tristan did awesome scoring quit a few goals! Dax was annoying climbing on everything but it's a good thing he's cute because nobody seemed to mind getting kicked in the back or head!! 

Daxton's pet rabbit!

So Dax discovered this creepy rabbit statue in our front yard the other day and decided he liked it!! His brothers brought it over to the front door where he would sit & pet it and try to feed it rocks!! But after a while he turned evil and by the look of these pictures you can tell he's not ready for a real pet at first he was nice & sweet then he pushed it off the step and than tried to ride it like it was a horse!! YUP defiantly not ready for a real pet!!

Vroom...Vroom...

 

After the BLM opened our roads back up Darin decided he wanted to go drive over the mesa just because he could!! On our way back home he let Dillon drive the expedition all by himself! (please don't call CPS) He did surprisingly well for barely being able to see over the steering wheel!! HaHa!

Fair Time!

Dustin with his class! apparently him & Keith are good buddies this is how they walked around the fair!!

This year we decided since we were back in the valley we would do two days instead of our usual one!! Big mistake all they did was complain how bored they were the second day because we only bought them one ride pass and they used it on Thursday (poor things - NOT!)

Thursday: Degan & Dusty got in with their classes so that saved us $14! Darin & I helped with Dusty's class and the older boys went to the rides with their friends! Dillon buddied up with Zach and we didn't see him until it was time to go! Degan was with Canyon at first than with his crew later on. Darin had six boys he was in charge of at one point!! Dustin had a blast riding rides with Taiven, they went on a few rides I thought would scare them but they would get off and run right back on! Dax was a stinker and wanted to ride the rides so bad but he was to short for the rides, but I ran into a friend who told me to just carry him into the rides and put him on them and the carnies would never know! so that's what we did after LeAnn gave me Trig's bracelet when they left, so we ended up selling the ride pass we had bought for Dax!!

Friday: We went in time to take Degan to watch the break dancers perform, they have a section where they call a kid out of the audience and of course Degan got picked!! Degan totally rocked it, the guy was impressed with his moves and his handstand! Than at the end of the show they let all the kids go up on the stage and Dax wanted to go up but once he got up there he wouldn't do anything, so one of the guys stood behind him and moved his arms for him, it was so funny!! After that we met up with Granny & Papa and let the kids do the rock wall or the bungee jumpy thingy and ate! we didn't stay long the kids were complaining about being bored!

Thursday photos

Friday photos

POP!

Dillon and his science fair project at the fair!! He did his project on "What bubble gum makes the biggest bubble" just in case you're wondering Hubba Bubba makes the biggest bubble!!

I was so glad he picked something fun & I was happy to get the note that said the parents shouldn't help out & to let the students do it all themselves blah blah blah....... Really do they expect a 5th grade BOY to do a science project by himself?? HaHa I don't think so and yes we were totally putting his board together the night before it was due!!

Bedtime Stories

We were all in the Living room reading a book before it was bedtime and about 10 minutes into the book Dusty was asleep and Dax climbed up and laid on his back and was out 5 minutes later!! Love that Dax is a snuggler!! #brotherlylove #storytime #sosweet

Blacklight Run

~BEFORE~

~AFTER~

Jenean, Kennan, Lucas, & two of her sister-in-laws signed up to do a night 5k! A few weeks before the race she asked if the boys & I wanted to run it with them so Kennan & Lucas would each have a buddy! I mentioned the race not totally for sure that I wanted to run it but the boys got super excited and I knew there was no way I would be able to get out of it!! When we got there I was shocked to see the amount of people that signed up to run, it was INSANE and they had a row of like 10 port a potty's for everyone to use so the line for the potty was ridiculous but of course after standing in line for over and hour most of us needed to go! When we got back in line Lucas was running a fever and not feeling good so Jenean took him back to the truck and gave him some pills and moved the truck closer to the finish line so we wouldn't have to hike all the way out to our crappy spot! We finally got started and we hit a super rocky spot and Michelle biffed it and scrapped up her leg and hurt her knee, after that we kinda lost our motivation and cheated big time cutting corners to make it to the dye stations!! I think we ended up only running half the race but who cares we still had fun!!

5th Grade Olympics

The P.E. teachers from Bowler, Perkins, Bunkerville, Virgin Valley, & Littlefield organize an Olympics with a bunch of different events for all the 5th graders to compete in!  Dillon did cup stacking, tether ball, limbo, up & over, Spartacus, & free throw!! He didn't win any medals but he had fun with his classmates! I think the teachers are just trying to start the whole pirate/bulldog rivalry early and I will say it is alive and going strong!!

April Fools

These little stinkers thought it would be funny to TP the kitchen!! The jokes on them though because they had to clean it up!! HaHa!

Frozen Burritos

This child is so weird! He LOVES to eat frozen Lynn Wilson burritos!! I guess when he gets hungry he takes matters into his own hands and sneaks a burrito,we find him hiding behind the couch just chillin munching on a nasty frozen burrito!!

Grandpa Hillstead

The middle school band had a spaghetti dinner fundraiser to get to Disneyland! I'm a sucker for kids needing help to get somewhere and if I don't have to make dinner it's a win win situation!! I must say it was CRAZY being there, I haven't been on the school grounds in years and so many memories flooded my mind some good, some sad. In that moment I realized I'd never taken the boys to see my Dad's memorial plaque and the tree that was planted for him! I miss him everyday and wish I had more time with him and that he was here to watch my crazy boys grow up! I know I know he's watching us from heaven but it's just not the same. It makes me happy though that my boys will get to be in a place that my Dad used to work! I think this plaque will have to be our memorial place since he's buried in Wyoming and we don't make it ther often enough!!

Let's Play Ball

Here we go the first game of the season!! We weren't going to sign anyone up to play baseball but Scarlet some how convinced me that Degan needed to play and be on the same team as all his buddies! I told her she was crazy putting all of them on the same team but she's convinced they'll have a good time. I'm sure they'll all have a great time and drive Tom crazy in the process!! Haha!

P.S. Degan had me find out what color his uniform would be so he could get matching cleats!

Sea Camp

3-20 - 3/21 Dillon has been waiting for his chance to go to Sea Camp in La Jolla California for years!! He had fun playing with sea animals, boogie boarding, and learning about all the different Sea creatures!! 

LVMPD

3-22-2014 Darin's squad at work decided to have a BBQ at the Centennial park in Vegas! It was kinda nice to be able to put a face to all the people Darin talks about! and the boys had fun running around!

sneaky leprechaun!

The traps have been set to try and catch a sneaky leprechaun!!

Funny Story: The boys were going to work together and build just one trap but somehow they found two boxes so Dillon decided he wanted to do his own and than there wasn't another box for Degan and he was being onery and nasty so I may or may not have told him that leprechaun's weren't real and not to even bother building anything because there was nothing to catch!! (PMS maybe?) He insisted on calling his Dad at work and Darin fixed everything our the phone. (I don't know how he does it) And than he built the coolest trap of all with an oatmeal drum, stairs made out of legos that reach a rope to climb up to the top, and treats in the bottom of the drum to get the leprechaun to jump down!!

11yr. old scout camp

March 14-15 2014

My BFF's

3-8-2014 It's always a good time when we get together! Today we just met for lunch at the scoop and got to see Genna's cute belly that nobody knew she had until like a week before we got together!!

The race is on!

 There was a little drama with the design of Degan's car, him & his Dad decided on the design and it looked kinda crazy so Darin tried to fix it and he still wasn't happy and thought it wouldn't win so he was told his options were to 1- use one of Dillon's old cars or 2- suck it up and use the one they had made! He eventually decided to use his purple car and wouldn't you know it, the thing won!! Haha! #65 got 4th place and had to go back for round 2!!

Katie's Shower

3-1-2014 I love any excuse to get together with my sisters & mom!! Today's excuse was Katie's baby shower!! I provided the house and games and Carla made lots of yummy food! Later that night we went into Vegas and watched the show Mystere at the Treasure Island! Our seats were right by a wall and at the end of the show one of the people in a crazy costume jumped up right in front of us and Kasaundra, Deanna & I screamed so loud that Carla, Lindsey & Gerilynn could hear us on the other side of the stadium!! Can't wait to meet their cute baby girl Maelie!!

Spider Monkey

    Spider Monkeys are mammals and are known as the "trapeze artists" of the animal world. They spend much of their time swinging from limb to limb in the trees high above the jungle floor. These quick and well coordinated monkeys are found in the rainforests located in places such as Southern Mexico, Central and South America, Brazil and Northwestern Columbia.

    The average weight of a spider monkey is 12 - 20 pounds, the length from head and body is 19 - 20 inches and the length from head to tail is 27 - 30 inches.
   
    Spider monkeys are social animals and stay in troops of up to two or three dozen during the day. However, they split up at night in small groups, each group consisting of half a dozen or fewer monkeys. They have black glossy hair that covers their entire bodies except the face. They do not have thumbs but they can still grip powerfully to tree branches. They also have a patch of skin at the end of their long tails. This patch works like a finger, it increases their gripping ability by using their tails to swing from tree branches leaving their long arms and legs free to grab food items from other branches. Spider Monkeys feast on 90% fruit and in the wild they eat nuts, seeds, leaves, insects and bird eggs. It is believed that spider monkeys play an important role in spreading seeds of plants throughout the rainforest.

    Typically, female spider monkeys are somewhat larger than males and they give birth to a single baby every 2 or 5 years. Young monkeys depend completely on their mothers for about ten weeks. Mothers continue to care for their young for the first year and a half of their lives, and often move about with their babies clinging to their backs.

    Sadly, man is the spider monkeys greatest enemy. Humans are destroying their habitats, hunting them down for meat, and are also responsible for dragging these beautiful animals into the  pet trade business to make money.

      One day I hope to be able to help these fascinating creatures and hear them make loud noises that can be heard up to 1000 meters on the ground and up to 2000 meters above the trees.

Boys & their Toys

Jim & Carla decided to sale their scrambler and offered to give us a family discount of $1000.00 if we wanted to buy it so we took full advantage of the offer and picked it up!! The boys are having fun driving it around the yard!!

Shining the pearly whites

I wasn't sure how Daxton was going to do for his first official teeth cleaning because he HATES it when I brush his teeth, I have to sit on him and hold his head still to get the job done and he screams the whole time. I hate to say it but he gets his teeth brushed maybe every other day if he's lucky!
To my surprise he did great! The assistant showed him everything and he just laid there while she did her thing without a single peep!! I love it when things turn out better than I think they will!!

V-Day Boxes

I love & hate Pinterest! today I LOVE pinterest!! It gave us some really cool ideas for valentine's day boxes for the boys cause now days you can't just have an ordinary old envelope you make yourself at school!! Now it has to be crafty and cool!! I think we did pretty good recreating the hulk and a football field!! Yay Me!!

A Girl can Dream!

7-14-2014 In honor of Valentines day we went to the Parade of Homes in St. George!! I just love walking around different floor plans and seeing how they decorate the houses! Of course my favorites are always the big huge unattainable houses but a girl can dream right?? I love that Darin likes it as much as I do and this year we were really excited to go because we hope to build again in the near future and to our surprise we actually found a floor plan we liked!! with just a few tweeks I think it'll work!! now we just need to find some land and get the ball rolling!!

Degan's big day!

2-1-2014 Between moving, unpacking, and my mom having foot surgery Degan's big day got pushed back to February.

Crazy Hair Day!

Nitro Circus

Ain't nothing better then watching people do crazy stuff!! Darin & the boys have watched Travis Pastrana do crazy things for years so it was fun to see them in person. Sadly Travis was in a cast so he wasn't participating in the craziness but it was still fun to watch and spend some time with the boys!!