Ryan is 7!

On Saturay, Ryan turned 7! Ryan is such a good boy and we love having him in our family. He has such a kind heart and so much faith! On Easter, he looked at the carpet and found Easter Bunny tracks! We went to see a middle school production of Annie on Friday night and he thought it was so great that they did a play of his favorite movie just for his birthday! We sure love this kid!

To celebrate, we went to a Colorado Rockies baseball game. We had a great time. Ryan was far more interested in the food (notice the nachos in his mouth) and wearing his "rally cap" than actually watching the game.

On Sunday, he asked for BBQ Chicken Pizza and Corn on the Cob for his special Birthday dinner. I don't know where he came up with the pizza topping, but it was easy to fix and yummy too.

Ryan asked to make Oreo Truffles to take to his class. What a good idea! Those truffles sure have come in handy (thanks Heidi!) and they were the perfect thing for Ryan to make by himself (with a little help from mom!).

What We've Been Up To

I always have such a hard time blogging if I wait too long. It seems like we have done so much in the last few weeks and I am not quite sure where to begin. So, I will just give a quick recap of with lots of pics to keep it from getting too boring!

We went to a birthday party for the cutest girl who was turning eight years old. It is just too bad that you can't choose your child's future spouse because this sweet girl would be a shoo-in for sure!

The roller rink was very old school and looked identical to the Roller King where we grew up.

Ryan has been playing soccer. He loves it, and despite the two practices and one game each week, never tires of it. He is very proud of how well he does and has even made contact with the ball a few times (an improvement from last year!).

My parents came for Easter and we loved having them here.

Ryan had already convinced his grandpa that we had to eat at Casa Bonita and so after a trip to Red Rocks, we stopped there for dinner. My parent's lived in CO thirty three years ago (I was born here!) and although they had only been to Casa Bonita once way back then, it was exactly as they remembered it. Jacob kept challenging the cliff diver to make a bigger splash until he was completely soaked!

We also took the boys out of school early one day so that Ryan could pick out his birthday present. Afterwards we went to a great park.

My mom and I also went shopping and out to lunch (two of my most favorite things!). This is what Laynie looked like when we arrived home after she was given a small piece of a cookie. Apparently she really enjoyed it! I never did find the bow that had been in her hair!

And lastly, Jacob's Destination Imagination team competed in the State Tournament. Despite the unbelievable snow storm we had Friday and Saturday the competition was still held as planned. So, I braved the weather and drove in the worst weather I have seen to get us there on time.

We have been practicing twice a week for several months and all of their hard work paid off. Despite a few technical difficulties with their structure (While waiting to have it measured one of the kids dropped it and broke a side. Luckily, another team let them use some of their super glue. After gluing the side back on they found they had glued the entire structure to the table and had to chisel it off and start over again!) they didn't let it upset them. I am so impressed that these 8 and 9 year olds would get up in front of a large audience and perform a skit they had written by themselves. They also created all of their props and scenery by themselves. They really did do a great job!

And, here is Jacob leading his team in the Macarena as part of their skit. Enjoy!

Photo Challenge

My friend Diane "tagged" me and because she is someone I admire and would never say no to I decided I'd better accept the challenge. Here it is: Go to your pictures folder, open the sixth folder and post the sixth photo in the folder. Then, tag six friends to do the same.

This is the sixth photo in my sixth folder. The photo was taken in the fall of 2005. Isn't it a good one? This photo shows my boy's personalities perfectly. Jacob is wild and crazy, Ryan is a rule follower (notice how he is the only one looking at the camera and smiling) and Kelly loves to make us laugh. Without them my life would be so boring!

So, Layna, Cammi, Lorelie, Lindsay, Kayla, and Jennie (and anyone else who would like to take the challenge), now its your turn!

The Olympic Training Center

On Saturday we got up bright and early to travel to Colorado Springs for a friend's baptism. After the baptism and yummy lunch we went to the Olympic Training Center. There are so many great things to do in C.S., but most are outside and it was just too cold to spend the day outdoors.

We had a great time learning about how Olympians train and seeing the facilities. It is amazing how much money goes in to the training of these athletes (all from private funds. did you know that?). Since my hopes of having an olympic swimmer have been dashed by my children's complete lack of interest in doing so, I was very interested to see all of the other sports they can still compete in (bowling???).

I love how happy my boys are with most anything we do. They are always up for something new. When I asked them to rate the trip from yawnfest to totally awesome, they both did not hesitate to shout, "Totally Awesome!"

A Snow Day!

We have gone so long without snow that even when the news channels said there was a bizzard warning we did not believe them. We were not even surprised to wake up to no snow on Thursday morning. However, by Thursday afternoon it was a different story! We tried to venture out of the house, but after getting stuck on a hill, having a hummer completely dent the back of our car, being towed by a large SUV and having to get out and shovel our driveway just to make it back into our house, we decided to stay put.

The boys of course had a great time. They would live outside if they could.

The missionaries stopped by to warm up and since Kelly had been sent home early from work, we invited them in for hot chocolate and oreos. Kelly repeatedly reminds me how I would never have let the boys have a cookie, or cake, or anything sugary before their first birthday, but I'm older, and too tired to listen to Laynie's screams when she sees the boys eating something delicious, so she ate her fair share as well!

The Last Two Weeks!

Wow! The last few weeks have been very busy and a lot of fun! This is the first track off time in a long while that we have not taken a trip. So, we have tried to keep busy doing fun things around town. Here is what we have been up to:

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day (with the cutest girl dressed in green!),

had a couple of crazy Family Home Evening lessons (this was Jacob as Samson),

And, remember how I said I would never coach Jacob's Destination Imagination team ever again? Well, of course, I just couldn't say no! We have kept very busy practicing for the competition. Ryan participated on a Rising Star Team (non-competitive) and, Jacob's team placed third in the district competition. Yipee! Which means that we now get to keep practicing twice a week to prepare for the state competition in April (do you like how I am trying to keep a positive attitude!).

We also went to an amazing park, had friends over to play, made a trip to the science museum, checked out many books and movies at the library, and met Kelly for lunch,

and the boys went to a very cool art class.

Ryan practiced soccer (the coach as scheduled practice three times a week to get the boys in shape!) and Jacob had his Pinewood Derby (he didn't win and was very upset. He told me he had never lost before and did not know what to do about it. Poor guy!).

Whew! We only a few more days left and we still have a trip to Colorado Springs, sledding and more D.I. practice to go!

Laynie's New Look

Laynie has discovered her hair clip and this new problem is seriously going to be the death of me! I have tried to distract her every way I can think of but she always finds her clips and she thinks it is so funny when she pulls it out! So, we are going for a new look. Ryan likes her in the side pony the best, but I like the double pony because it keeps all her hair out of her eyes. What do you think?

(This is how Laynie feels about her new do!)