What a SURPRISE!

I know, I know. I have been seriously neglecting the blog lately (and keeping up on everyone else's.......SORRY!) At first I had a good reason......my camera died and I didn't have one until just after Thanksgiving and I didn't want to do a blog post without pictures...as Kami would say that is BORING! But after that, I have no excuses, just laziness :) So it would have to take something really big to get me out of my blogging slump........CHRISTMAS!

I was so excited for Christmas this year, Tydon and Kace are at such fun ages. During the summer I found a powerwheels 4-wheeler on KSL.com that I knew Ty would be so excited about. He did not disappoint. When he came downstairs Christmas morning, he ran in the front room and said "WHOA BABY!" It was pretty classic!



Kace (and the whole family) got a wii and some games. He had been so excited for Christmas and woke up early this year. Every Christmas (before this one) we (Nate and I) have been able to sleep in because the boys sleep in until 7:30 or 8:00......not this year. Kace woke up at 6:00, but I guess it could be worse. I told him he had to stay in our room until Ty woke up and I would tell him stories like my mom used to tell us while we were waiting for dad to come in from chores on Christmas morning. Like the 'boy with no ears' and others. Remember that mom?!



I decided to make a good breakfast this year and had the breakfast casserole and pull-apart bread all ready on Christmas Eve. We had no room in our fridge so I just left it (the casserole) outside in the garage to set overnight. After we had come downstairs for the initial sighting of the presents and the boys had started playing I decided I had better go get the casserole and put it in the oven because it had to cook for 30 minutes.

So I went to the garage and I saw this big bow on our car. My eyes weren't registering clearly. It looked like the Rodeo, but NO IT WAS A TOYOTA SEQUOIA! I said, "WHAT!!!! N-A-T-E!!" He said, "What? Did you find your present?" He had a big smile on his face. I seriously couldn't believe it. We had been looking at cars during the summer and had decided that we should just save our money and that the Rodeo could last for one more year. I guess I was the one that decided that, Nate thought I needed a new car. :) He did such a good job! I don't think I have EVER been more surprised.

He bought it in November and kept it at Shirleen and Curt's (our neighbor's) and they drove it over on Christmas Eve. It was funny because just the day before Shirleen had asked me if I thought Nate had done any shopping. I told her that I didn't have any idea, I told him I didn't really want anything (other than big stuff that would be too expensive) and I just wanted to enjoy it with the boys. WOW, was I off!

So anyway, back to Christmas....Nate's biggest complaint EVERY CHRISTMAS is that we don't get to stay home on Christmas we are always running to both of our parents homes and by the time we get doing something it is time to go to the next parent's home and the boys don't ever get to stay home and enjoy their gifts. So we did things a little bit different this year. Nate's parents and Caitlin came over to our house about 8:30 and played with the boys (and Caitlin played tennis and mario kart with me :) ), took the car for a little spin, watched a movie and had a good time.
They stayed until about lunch time and then went home so Ryan could play his games :) and just played. Ty was so funny on his 4-wheeler, he would go maybe a foot and then jump off and strut back to the trailer and inspect it and then get on to go again (it was like he was scared, but too proud to admit it).
Mary and Isaac came over with Lincoln to see what everyone got and Heidi and Clayton came over as well. Later in the afternoon we went to my mom and dad's to exchange presents with all of them. Kami gave me a GORGEOUS :) Logan temple picture, that I was so excited about. In past year's we haven't drawn names, just gotten gifts for all my siblings, and every year Heidi and Clayton get Nate this monstrosity of raspberry filled hostess doughnuts. He LOVES them! So he was a little disappointed at the drawing of names, but don't worry Heidi drew his name (or Clayton, I am not for sure). So they got him some wading boots and then Clayton made this doughnut man. Completely made out of doughnuts. It was to be Nate's "hunting buddy". I will just have to get a picture because you can't picture it until you see it. It was pretty funny.

Oh, one more funny thing.......Ty was asleep when we got to Trenton so Nate just went and put him on Cort's bed. Well apparently he was in a DEEP SLEEP, because when I woke him up to do presents, he was covered in pee! HEHEHE SORRY CORT!

The BIG one!!!

Every year Nate says that he is going to shoot the "BIG ONE." He was excited for the muzzle loader hunt and had seriously been counting the weeks (maybe even months) for it to start. He went on the opener with his old roommate Dave and then the next day with yours truly. It was a good hike when we went, but we didn't get the BIG ONE this day. He then went on Saturday with his dad and said that today was the for sure day he was going to shoot one (THE BIG ONE). But after about 14 hours for that day.......NOTHING! So he decided to go on Tuesday by himself (I can't say exactly where he went because then we would have to kill you--I guess a hunter's hunting spot is very sacred to him :) ) I called him so many times because I was worried about him being by himself and something happening to him (I tend to let my imagination run away with me). He finally called back and said, "How am I supposed to talk to you when I am stalking THE BIG ONE?" So then he told me that he got it (if you want to hear the actual "hunting story" you can call and I am sure Nate would be happy to tell you ALL the details) and was really excited. We are now making jerky and it is actually pretty good. I was a bit skeptical, but it is good.

When he got home with the deer the boys were so excited. I had to leave for YW and told him to take some pictures. Please notice Kace's magnifying glass. I guess he wanted to look at it close up. Weird. Ty was really excited and kept saying, "deer, deer, deer, deer, deer." It was a happy day in our house!

Birthday BOY!

On Sunday Kace turned SEVEN years old. I can't believe it. It means I am getting OLD. Kace had a birthday party this year and was REALLY excited (understatement). We started his birthday on the Wedesday before his birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Jones coming over for a birthday dinner and his soccer game (they were going to PA to visit Mel and were going to be gone on his actual day so we celebrated early. We had a good time and Kace loved having them come to his game.
His actual bday was on a Sunday and turned out to be the same day as our primary program. So Grandma and Grandpa Andrew, Brandon and Chelsea, and great-grandma Andrew came to church with us. Another fun dinner followed (Cortney showed up in time for the dinner....go figure :) )




The day he was most excited for was Monday because that was the day of his birthday party with all his friends. He wanted an under the sea party, but we kind of altered it a bit. First we played, "don't eat pete". I loved playing this game at parties when I was a kid and was pleasantly surprised at how much fun they had playing it too.

We then pretended we were pirates and went on a treasure hunt for their buried treasure (i.e. treat bags). When Nate turned 8 he did this same activity for his birthday party and Kace has always wanted to do one. We gave them about seven clues and thankfully the rain stopped just in time so they could go outside (I was praying).

Then came the fishing adventure. We filled up a little plastic kiddie pool and got a bunch of little planter fish in it. The kids got to 'catch' the fish with their hands to take home (sorry moms! :) ) They LOVED this.

Kace is such a joy to have in our family. He is always the peacemaker and loves to make people laugh. He can be such a goof ball. His favorite color is blue and his favorite food is macaroni and cheese. He likes to play soccer, baseball and basketball and is very very excited for when he is old enough to play football. He loves to go camping and fishing. We LOVE our Kace!

End of summer

Of course I couldn't NOT do a post about Kace's first day of 1 grade. I seriously, (and I know every mom says this) can't believe he is in first grade already. I asked him while he was eating breakfast the first day of school what he thought first grade was going to be like and he said, "Lots and lots and lots and LOTS of math." I hope for his sake he is right or he will just be working on his workbook at home. He was excited to go all day and to ride the bus again. We have to meet the bus about a 1/2 mile from our house, so we do a lot of waiting :)



Also a couple of weeks ago (I think it was like August 15) I went up to the mountains to put some salt out for the little deeries, so that they would be in the area when Nate went hunting and it SNOWED. Not just a little snow, but like a blizzard, it stuck to the ground and I was NOT prepared for snow and froze my BUTT off.

It seems like every night Kace wants to go swimming in the pond. So we all head out there and he chases the ducks around. Luckily Ty doesn't like to go out too far.........yet!

Lately whenever Ty sees the camera he wants to take a picture with "mama". I have a million of these.

Sometime in August Kace was begging to do a lemonade stand....I was trying to find this picture of Heidi, Kami and I and our lemonade stand when we were little. We were sitting there looking like rag muffins and our lemonade was 2 (yes TWO) cents. Anyway, fast forward to last month when kace wanted to have a lemonade stand. We decided to go to the Weese's so that we could get a little bit more traffic going by. He was so excited to go buy something at King's. Thank goodness for Jami, Shirleen, Curt and Cami......so he made $4.25 (I think....it was $4 something). Anyway, he had a good time and Ty had fun playing with Boston.

a moment to brag

So last Sunday I went with the YW during sacrament meeting to the nursing home to do sacrament meeting for the old people there and so Nate was left with Kace and Ty in our sacrament by himself (with Shirleen and Curt of course!) Anyway, Nate took Ty out to the bathroom when the choir got up to sing. Shirleen asked Kace if he was in the choir (Nate, Kace and I have been participating in the choir) and he said, "Yes!" and off he went. He sat in the chair that he usually sits in at practice, even though there were a couple of seats between him and the next person and sang the entire song of "The Spirit of God" with the choir all by himself. I have had several people come up and tell me how impressed they were by that. I am pleased to be the mom of a such choice, sweet boys.

camping time

For Nate birthday he really wanted to go camping. So we loaded up the kids and headed up to his families property on Monte Cristo (we figured that way no one else would be around). So for fhe that week we planned what we wanted to eat and what we wanted to do while we were up there. Kace made an entire list and the first thing on it was to go SNAKE HUNTING! So after we got the tent set up we headed off on a walk (to the beaver ponds) with a net to find a snake. Kace must have a good eye, because he spotted one first.



It was funny because after we caught it BOTH of the boys didn't really want to touch it. Later Kace found another one, but we couldn't ever get it in the net. So we went back to camp and cooked our hotdogs and marshmallows. I was wondering how it would be at night, but Ty settled right down and went to sleep.

In the morning we got up and had breakfast and while we were eating Nate said, "hey boys, what's that?" I looked over and there was a moose walking about 20 yards from our camp. (I couldn't find my stupid camera). They loved that! We went for another walk and then went down to Nate's grandparents in Liberty and fished in the river behind their house. Nate used to do this as a kid and loved it. Someone holds the net and the other one scares the fish out of their holes to the net. Kace had a net and I had a net, Nate was the scarer. It was really fun....probably the best fishing I have done. We caught some fish and had fun walking in the river (I think that was Ty's favorite part).

While we were waiting for Nate, Kace practiced his karate moves.

Later Grandpa Shaw said that we could catch a big fish from his pond to eat. Kace was all for that so he grabbed the net and caught a big monster fish! He then called for his dad to help him clean it out, but Nate told him that if he caught it he could clean it out. So he learned how to do that. I was proud of him.

Ty just loves Grandpa Shaw and runs to him everytime we see him.

small town July festivities

Just a fair warning. This post is LONG and has a lot of pictures.

I can't believe July has come and gone. Crazy!! For the fourth of July we usually head to the park for the town party. Kace was so excited for his costume in the parade (cowboy if you couldn't tell) and he got Ty a costume to (superman). They won the best costume award. The parade consists of walking around in a circle on the grass, not once, but TWO times. I thought the Trenton 24th parade was funny (it goes around the park block twice), but this one tops it!

Everyone ran in the races (besides me), Nate ran in the 20's group, just because he wanted to prove that he is still fast. Which he is. Kace won his age group and got a $1. He is always excited when he gets money. I don't know where he gets it. They were most excited for the airplane candy drop and Kace explained and explained it to Ty to make sure he got it.

Then on the 24th of July we headed to Trenton. I LOVE this day, it is probably comparable to Christmas for me. There is so much to do and it is always so much fun to see old friends. I got this picture of Karen, Anna and I, but don't know where Shelli, Kelly and Meghan went off too. Then I thought we could get a bigger group shot that night at the fireworks, but that didn't work out either, so this is all I got.

When we got there Ty headed straight for the playground where there is this tractor. He didn't want to EVER get off of it. He DID NOT want to share and take turns. He was content to be on it all day. If ever we lost him we knew to go right to the tractor and there he was.

Kace found LOT and LOTs of games to play and activities to do.

This is Clarissa (anna's daughter-sam didn't want to get his face painted-we are sure glad they are such good friends!)

As usual we spent most of our time by the sand volleyball court. I was on a team with Nate and dad. We took third I think. Cortney's team won. He didn't want to be on any of our team, but wanted to be with his friends instead. RUDE!



They had the home run derby earlier (in the day) this year, so when we weren't playing volleyball we went over to the ball field. I think I got my best hit EVER, I thought it was going to go over the fence, but landed right at it. I was pretty proud......I mean pleased....with my medal!

After lunch the firemen came with the foam. This is always a favorite, but this year when Ty got in he kept getting it in his mouth and then he would open his mouth and put his foamy hands in it. So he gagged and puked. That was fabulous. He decided he was done after that and went to sit down......until Thomas (anna's son) said, "come on Ty, let's go." Then he was ready again.

Shelli and Tyler always have a good time dragging each other through it. Dad also thought it would be fun this year to drag people through it. I might have been one of those unfortunate ones. I didn't see too many other grandpas playing with their grandkids in the foam though. We are pretty lucky!

Ty was exhausted by the time the day was over. I think Kami was a little too happy to carry him.

But he perked right up when we got to gpa and gma's house and saw the tractor. He was in his element!

Later that night we went to the sod farm for dinner and fireworks. They were "awesome"--ty kept saying that.
It was a great day and something that I remember doing EVERY year when I was a kid. I remember once my parents tried to plan a camping trip or something over it and I was so mad and said that it was like Christmas to me and I couldn't miss it. I love it!!

"He's a keeper!" --Kim Roberts

This past week we had the opportunity to go with our friends the Roberts' on their annual Oregon Coast vacation. So last Friday we flew into Portland and drove to Cannon Beach. It is so beautiful there and dare I say, we were cold much of the time! It was seriously a sauna to come home.

Anyway, the first day we went into Seaside and went to the little shops there (and also the outlets!). Those who know Nate can just imagine his excitement about shopping, but he was a good sport......and there were lots of samples for him and CJ (ok and me too) to enjoy. That night we built a fire on the beach. I really think the campfire smell, smells different there.

Saturday we drove down the coast and stopped at a crabbing place just to see how it all worked. So we decided to rent a boat (CJ was the captain and Nate was the puller) and went and caught a TON of crabs.........seriously I think there were about 80. We 'crabbed' for a couple of hours and then brought the ones that were big enough to keep and went back to the dock. They they showed us how to clean them and cooked them and then we enjoyed. YUM!!!

Then we went on to Tillamook and took a tour of the cheese factory there. Of course we had an ice cream and I saw some people with BYU shirts on and it made me feel right at home. (Don't worry I told them that I really enjoyed their shirts).

That night we went to a play. We were a little bit late, but somebody at the back opened the door for us. We saw these cookies sitting right at the front and CJ asked if he could have a cookie and then took a couple into the play to enjoy. So of course I followed his example and took some for Nate and I. During intermission he went out to get another cookie and found out that they were $1 each. Ooops, we had stolen the cookies.

The next day was Sunday so we went to church in Seaside. There were LOTS of visitors (probably like Bear Lake or Island Park in the busy seasons). We drove on the beach and went to an old ship wreck. I made (those who know him really know that I MADE him to this--good thing he loves me!) Nate pose like on Titanic (too bad we were solo), it would have been better to be on there together.



Then we went up north to Astoria and saw the house were goonies was filmed. We tried to get Nate to do the, "truffle shuffle", but he wouldn't. Party pooper. We also went to the Astoria column and saw a beautiful view. That night we got goonies and watched it, just to make sure that was the actual house. Don't worry, it was.







At the "goonie house" we thought we heard sea lion barks so we drove down to the dock and found them. Nate was trying to get as close as he could (I am pretty sure we weren't supposed to go down there) and there was one at the front of the group or pack or whatever that was very protective. He would get up from his rest and scoot over to Nate barking the whole way, Nate had to run back a couple of times. It was good times. Kim missed it as she was on the phone, but she did "strike a pose" for the camera

The next day we rented some bikes and went on a long bike ride up to Ecola State Park. It was beautiful and quite the workout getting our beach cruiser bikes up the winding mountain road (but it felt good!) It was gorgeous up there and it felt so good to ride back down the mountain!

We ate LOTS of great seafood. Nate and I went running on the beach 2 of the mornings. Nate pretty much would run sprints and then slow down and wait for me to catch up and then run sprints again. We would go to the different tide pools and look at all the little ocean critters. There were lots and lots of wild life. Nate loves this kind of stuff!

It was so much fun to get away, but we missed our kids and were glad to come home to see them. My mom told me that Kace had a countdown going on when we were coming home. I was kind of surprised at that. Many many many thanks to my mom and dad, Jess and Mac and Mary and Isaac for watching the boys. You guys are the BEST!!