Try this Blogging thing again!

It has been a very long time since I have even looked at my blog.  But, I have really missed a lot of fun events.  I thought about trying to post some things that have already passed and hope to keep caught up for the future.  We will see how it goes.

We are in the last week of school. This year flew by.  We were able to do a lot of field trips (Gilcrease Orchard, Library and even spent the night at Sea World - that deserves it own post!)

Dillon is finishing 5th grade which means middle school next year.  That is so crazy to me that he will be in middle school.  Didn't he just turn 2?  He had so many projects this year.  They started the first month of school and he just finished his final one last night.  We changed schools this year and I was worried it would be hard on the kids to leave their friends and familiar school.  But, it turns out it has been the best decision we have made.  Their new school is amazing and been the best thing for our family.  Dillon did really well in school.  He is really good at getting his homework done on time and working hard.  But, he isn't so great at work when it comes to IN school work.  He struggles with talking and giggling.  His teachers think he is silly.  He makes friends easily but also got a taste of his first "bully" this year.  It was rough to see him struggle.  He is excited for middle school.  He has the biggest heart and loves me more than anyone at the moment (I will take it while it lasts).  He loves taking piano lessons.  He started when he was 9 years old and has loved it ever since.  I don't have to bug him to practice.  In fact, sometimes I have to ask him for a break.  He would play all day if he could.  He is getting some pieces ready for his recital in a couple weeks.  He also loves everything to do with roller coasters.  He has decided he wants to build an amusement park when he grows up.  He has notebooks of drawings and plans he comes up with.  I hope he can achieve his goals some day.

Daniel is finishing 1st grade.  He is the biggest kid in his class, really smart and very thoughtful.  He sometimes forgets he is so much bigger than the other kids and hurts them.  It has been a struggle to remind him to be gentle.  He finished his 3rd season of flag football and absolutely loved it.  He has the greatest coaches that are so patient with him.  He loves his friends and wishes he could be at their house every day.  He hates cleaning his room.  I can often find everything including the kitchen sink under his bed after he has "cleaned" his room.  That has to be in the instructions from now on that cleaning our room does not mean shoving everything under the bed.  He always takes a drink to bed with him and at one point he had 8 glasses under his bed!!  We also lose a lot of socks with this kid.  For some reason, he always puts holes in the heels of his socks.  I am going to start making him buy his own and maybe he will be more careful.  Daniel loves everything about sharks.  They had to do a report in school about their favorite animal and he did it on sharks.  He colored a picture, printed pictures and did a 2 page report.  They had to share it in front of the class and the parents were allowed to come and listen.  He was scheduled for Tuesday and I got a note from his teacher that said they were changing the day to Thursday because Daniel wasn't ready.  I asked Daniel why he wasn't ready and he said he was still studying about them.  The day of the presentation I asked his teacher about why he wasn't ready and she said you would have thought he was writing his thesis for graduate school.  She said he took it very serious and didn't want to present to the class until he was really ready.  He did a great job and had one of the longest reports in the class.

Camille just finished Preschool.  She loved it.  She asks every day if she has school today.  She had 3 other children in her class.  Ruthie, Hunter and Luke.  I heard about these kids every day.  She would pray for them and couldn't wait to see them.  Her last day was on Wednesday.  They got to wear their swimsuits and play in the pool in Mrs. Brighton's backyard.  She also got to take her lunch to school.  She hasn't stopped talking about it.  She doesn't really grasp that she isn't going back.  She still asks if she has school.  It will be a long summer for her :)  Camille loves everything to do with princesses.  She loves watching them, playing with them, pretending to be them.  She also loves to watch TV.  I have to turn the TV off and hide the remotes so she will go and play with her toys.  She loves her friends and wishes she could play with them every day.  She prays every prayer that she will be able to go to one of their houses.  She is taking dance classes and getting ready for her recital on Saturday.  She loves going to dance class because she loves to dance and she loves to be with her friends.  She has a fun personality.  She is always happy and always singing.  She loves to listen to music and loves to make up dances.  Her prayers crack us up.  She always prays that I will paint her nails and get her new earrings.  She also prays that she will be a grown up.  I am in trouble with this girl if she is only 4 1/2 and already praying to be a grown up.  She is very interested in growing up and what it will be like.  Just today she asked me if she would be able to blow bubbles with her gum when she is a grown up.

We moved across the street last summer.  We love our neighborhood and knew that we were going to have to sell our house because the interest rate adjusted out of our range.  We couldn't afford the payment anymore.  Our neighbor, Bonnie, was selling her house across the street and we put in an offer and bought it.  It has been very interesting to move right across the street.  I moved about 85% of the house by myself on a little cart.  I would load it up, walk across the street and unload it and go get another load.  Our friends helped us moved the big things when it was time.  So far we love the house.  It is a different floor plan and has a bigger yard.  The yard isn't very kid friendly at the moment.  We hope to be able to change that soon.  We were able to paint it and do some remodeling before we moved in.  All in all it has been a good move for us.  It has been difficult to see the people who bought our house change every single thing in that house.  We built that house from the ground up and put a lot of money and sweat into making it ours.  They have basically changed all that and made it their own.  I knew that they would change things, just didn't know that they only familiar part would be the outside walls.  Oh well, we still have the memories of that house and that is all that matters.  We are making good memories in this house as well.

Well, this was fun for my first post in 4 1/2 years.  I hope to catch up on some older posts eventually.

1 week old!

I can't believe it was a week ago that we met this little girl.

She is here!!!!

On October 1, 2009 at 1:13 p.m., Camille Mary was born into this world. She was 7 lbs, 11 oz and 20 inches long. I had a c-section and everything went very smooth. I got to the hospital at 10:30 a.m. and she was here about 3 hours later. I still can't believe that she is here.

Brandon and I struggled with a name. I have always loved the name Camille and wanted to name a girl that. But, when she was born, we kept going back and forth between a couple of names and nothing really felt solid. So, on Friday, we were forced to name her and finally decided that we really did like Camille and I am so happy we ended up with that name. I love it and can't wait to say it for the rest of my life :)

She is the BEST baby ever. She wakes up every 3 - 4 hours, eats and goes back to sleep. We are working on getting her to stay awake a little more during the day. We like to see her eyes and play with her.

Dillon and Daniel both love their sister. Daniel can often times be caught sharing is blankie with her and asking if she is ok. Dillon had a hard time at first remembering his sister's name. He would ask about 20 times a day - "what is her name again? I know is starts with a C." He is a funny kid. I think that he remembers by now.

The adjustment has been really great. My mom is here helping me out and I am so glad to have her! Brandon's mom also has helped us so much. We are so lucky to have such great moms that would drop anything for us and help. We love them so much.

Well, here are some pictures of our little princess. I know that she will be spoiled, but she deserves it. If she continues to be this good of a baby, she can have anything she wants :)

Dr. Swainston (best doctor in the world!) and Camille

Proud Grandmas!

Happy family!

Announcement......

I haven't posted anything for a very long time. Many people have said that they are sick of seeing snow in Las Vegas! (since it is almost 100 degrees here every day now!)

So...I guess I will just post that we are expecting another miracle baby. We found out today that we are going to be having a little girl. We are all still in shock but really excited for all things pink! Due date is middle of October. Everything looks good with the baby. I had a bad case of morning sickness this time and my face looks like I am back in High School with all the acne going on! But we are happy as could be and looking forward to meeting this little girl. (I still can't say that without thinking that I am daydreaming!) I will try to post some other things so that you don't have to look at this announcement until October!

Snow!

Everyone has probably heard and/or read by now that it snowed in Las Vegas. It started on Monday, December 15th where it basically snowed all day long. We were able to have a snowball fight and make a snowman. Danny liked to throw the snowballs, but didn't like to have them thrown at him. Typical boy! By the next day, our snowman had melted and we were thawing out. Well, Wednesday, December 17th rolled around and it snowed again. In fact, it snowed so much that night that the school district decided to make an official SNOW DAY on December 18th. We turned on our fireplace and watched the Grinch and enjoyed our snow night.

It was crazy. We were driving around on that Thursday laughing that it was considered a snow day. The skies were blue and the snow was pretty much melted by noon. But, we had a fun time with it and hope that it comes back soon. It usually snows every year out here, but doesn't really stick to the ground. Who would have thought...snowing in Las Vegas....what is next? Pigs gonna start to fly?

Happiest Place on Earth!

Well, we did it again. We bought annual passes to Disneyland. We went at the beginning of November and got to see all the Halloween decorations and just went back in the middle of December to catch the Christmas ones. We had such a great time both times. This last trip we were able to see our friends, the Hartner family, and spend a day with them. We were also able to spend a day with my brother Adam, his wife Dana and their son, Jayce. The weather was great and Disneyland looks so beautiful all decorated.

My cute nephew, Jayce.

The interesting thing about these two trips is that Dillon was scared to go on all the rides when we went in November. We had to drag him on Pirates screaming and kicking. The trip in December, he asked to go on it over and over. He is really into a fun phase right now. He loves to try new things. He loves to eat new foods, try new rides, watch new shows, learn new things. I am loving it. He eats almost everything I make for dinner now. He is turning into such a great little man. Loving it!

Dillon got picked to do Jedi Training again. (Another thing he was scared to do in November). I don't want to brag or anything, but he was able to fight Darth Vader and graduate with honors from the Training Academy. We are so proud of his Jedi Training. I am sure it will come in handy when he gets older.

Here is a picture of the 2 young ones waiting for the chance to fight Darth Vader. I am sure Dillon is explaining how he is going to handle the light saber this time around, since last time he couldn't get it to "activate."

Jedis in training. Notice Dillon is the ONLY one wearing the hood! This must be the reason that he graduated with honors :)I told Dillon to do rabbit ears behind his Dad's head and I guess his rabbit only has 1 ear! Poor thing must have lost the other one in a hunting accident.

Daniel still won't try new things very much. He loves certain things and could eat the same things every day. He did great at Disneyland. He loved almost every ride we went on. It's a Small World was finally open and he absolutely loved that one. He also loved Casey, Jr. - the train and Dumbo.

Most kids go to Disneyland for the rides, Danny goes for a bath. He loved sticking his head on this ball and getting it all wet.

Danny loved the parade in California Adventure. However, if your kid LOVES bubbles, make sure you keep an eye on him, because he might run out into the parade and almost get hit by Lightning McQueen!

There is a new ride there called Toy Story Mania in California Adventure. It was so much fun. Definitely one of our new favorite rides. The line is super long right now, but it is totally worth it.

Well, this sums it up - we all love Mickey Mouse and can't wait for our next trip!

Trick or Treat

The night before Halloween, we had our ward Trunk or Treat. The kids got way too much candy. But, it was fun to see some of our friends and be able to talk to them and see their cute kids.

On Halloween, we always make Minestrone soup and have some friends over to share. This year, some of the Roundy family came and we had a great time having them here. Brandon also cooked a killer tri-tip in his new smoker. It was amazing. We also carved our pumpkins on Halloween this year. Dillon drew the face he wanted on a piece of paper and Brandon carved it for him. I decided to do a Mickey Mouse one for Daniel since he loves everything Mickey right now. Then I did BOO and Dillon decided he wanted a witches hat above it. It doesn't really look like a witches hat, but it was still cool.

Dillon decided he wanted to be Anakin Skywalker. Daniel got to be Darth Vader - or Darth Dan as we have been calling him. They were sure cute in their costumes.

We got to go Trick-or-Treating with them in our neighborhood. Here is a picture of Daniel waiting for everyone to finish so he can close the gate. He waited at every house to make sure that the gates were all closed. Silly kid!

Dillon and his friend Carter

Then we went to our friend's house, Amree and Richard. They are always so good to our family. We go there every Halloween so they can see the boys in their costume.

It was a great Halloween. I am so excited for Thanksgiving this year. We are going to spend it with my family and I am counting down the days!