Memorial Day St. George Style!

We decided to go to St. George over the long holiday weekend. We left on Thursday night, crusing into St. George about midnight. Our friend, Reed and his girls (Kiersten and Max were at her brother's graduation) went down earlier on Thursday. It was so nice because he did some grocery shopping and we didn't have to run out early the next morning for anything. Reed actually got up and made us a big old bacon and egg breakfast! Nice!

Then, we packed up the kids and headed for Snow Canyon. First, we hit the Lower Galoot rock which we love to hike all over. The kids were set on catching a lizard while we were there. Reed's daughter, Mikaela, is a lizard expert and even had cages for when they bagged a lizard! The first one they went after was pretty smart and hid in a bush (yes, there are bushes on top of this petrified rock!). Then, as they raced up and down the rock, Sydney spotted one! They all came running and Mike ended up catching it for them. They were so excited! They made this lizard a condo with sand, rocks and plants. His name was Snowflake (because he was found in Snow Canyon), but later changed to Snowball. This lizard was the greatest find because then we didn't see Sydney or Mikaela for 3 days! They babied that reptile. Brought him potato bugs to eat. Held him. Changed his water every 5 minutes. Fantastic! We did make them let him go before the Laws left. Brandon, I guess, said a few words at the ceremony like, 'He was a good lizard. We will miss him.' Priceless!

We then stopped by the campground, found picnic tables and a fire ring. The boys got a fire started and we roasted hot dogs and had s'mores. It was great and everyone had a fun time!

Then, off to the sand dunes! The kids favorite! Although, now the sand was HOT! We were there in April and it was perfect. What a difference 6 weeks makes. We could only stand to walk a little way, but the kids wanted to be buried still, so the Dad's accomodated!

Back home for some yummy bbq dinner and day one was in the books!

Saturday, we got up and the kids just played with the lizard! It was a relaxing morning. We did have to work on Amanda's science fair project. Here is Mike & Amanda getting grass stains on the fabric samples. Then, we went downtown to the water park and played around until around 3p when we met Darin & Elise Jensen & Fam at the movies to see Shrek 3 or 4...what are we on? And then Pizza Factory for dinner! Jensen's were staying at a hotel in St. George, so it was really fun to see them and get together. I just have to say that our waitress got a $37 tip on a $50 bill that night because Mike & Reed were fighting about who was paying. I was going to grab at least a $20 off the table, but Mike said no way! I keep telling myself that she probably needed it more than we do and hopefully the good karma will come back to us!

Sunday, Reed got ready to leave because he had to pick up Keirstin at the airport in SL. We had a great time with them and the kids were sad to see them go! We decided to drive the 2.5 hours to see the Grand Canyon! I will put that trip in another post!

We left Monday afternoon trying to get to my Mom's for a bbq that night at 6pm. We stopped in Cedar City because they now have a DRIVE-THRU cafe rio! Rock on! This is TMI, but Brandon has been needing to pee urgently and frequently, so that made the ride home eventful! We love St. George!!!! It was a GREAT weekend!

Math Olympiad

Near the end of school, Amanda was picked as one of 15 5th graders to attend the district wide Math Olympiad. She compete in the 'Set' category. (Set is a game where cards are placed in rows and you have to find 3 that follow the rules of the game. The rules are pretty random. I practiced with her and it wasn't a game you pick up easy...)She did really well. The schools that placed (1st, 2nd, 3rd) must have practiced non-stop during school because they won in every category. :) Anyway, Amanda did awesome and we are proud of her!

The Party

He can't take his eyes off this awesome cake!

If these photos look familiar, it's because B wanted the exact same birthday party as last year! So, we did our best to compensate. We had fewer boys come over, but the cake, (which Brandon helped to decorate-its a volcano from Star Wars with S.W. guys) the party favors (lightsabers), and music were all the same! It did make it easier to put the party together! And the boys all had a great time. We had been having rainy weather all week, but lucky for us, it didn't rain until right as the last party boy was leaving! Hooray!

Discussing strategy!
The heat of battle!

Below-left: Matthew B., Henry K. Brandon, Spencer H, Tanner C., Nick S., Kolton N., Will G with his back to us.

The Birthday!!

May 19th our baby turned 5! I spent the day with him looking at his baby books and then crying! It was so hard! He's just my little buddy and I love having him around. I'm not wanting him to grow up. Mike thinks it's great that he's growing up! Kids are more fun to play with when they are older. Anyway, for his birthday dinner he wanted hot dogs! Yippee! An easy one!

He got some awesome Star Wars legos! We also got him the new Mario Galaxy game for the Wii, but had to wait until it 'came out' on Friday. Brandon told me his favorite thing to do with his Dad is play the Wii....it's a guy thing.

The official cake!

Putting together the legos!

Brandon's croquet par-tay

We had the grandparents up on Monday to celebrate Brandon's birthday (more on that to follow). We had a nice little dinner - compiled of food mostly bought at Costco! Everytime someone would say something was good, I would reply, 'Costco' Gotta love Costco.

Anyway, Brandon had his heart set on playing croquet with everyone after dinner. Being good family members, we happily agreed. The game grew quite heated between the grandparents. I was surpised at how well my Dad knew the rules. Brandon enjoyed every minute!

Pictures from the rest of the party I will need to get from my Mom as my camera battery died. Thanks grandparents for a fun night celebrating our little Brandon!

Photo shoot

I enlisted the talents of my sis-in-law, Cozette, to take pictures of our kids. She just got a fancy new camera and is putting it to great use! We tried for about 3 weeks to get together, but this crazy Utah spring weather has not been helping much. Finally, we got a day and met at Temple Square. These pictures are a few by my camera. I'll post some of Coze's later. It was a fun, warm day and we could have stayed for hours! Enjoy a few!

The pictures of the flowers were all taken by Amanda. When we got home, she and Sydney pulled out her oil pastels and drawing pads and sketched those same flowers! They did a great job!

"Little purple pansies dressed in yellow gold" I loved that song as a child! Probably because my Mom would sing it....

The Lone Survivor

It's happened.....Mike has strep! Mike never gets strep!

Strep has hit 4 out of 5 in our family. I am the lone survivor....will I make it?

Place your bets!

Brandon wisdom

After watching "Star Wars - Attack of the Clones" Brandon told me that "if your hand gets cut off, you can get a new one and glue it back on." Just so you know.....

Some random randomness

Ok, and for my first randomness....this is my Hook grandparent's house. This is where my Mom grew up! The kids and I had met Cozette & her kids at Temple Square last week to take pictures (those in another post). Afterward, Brandon got picked up by Mike and they had a boy's night out with Mike's family. Jim & Renae took the boys to see the Three Muskateers at Hale Center Theater.

So, the girls decided to go to dinner! We hit Training Table with Cozette's family. After leaving them, I just started driving around downtown and south to show the girls some of the things of my childhood. I'm not sure they have ever seen the house where their Grandma Gib grew up! It was fun and I was so glad that Amanda was brave enough to take a picture for me. It was a great house and I still remember so many things about it. The yard has changed a lot. There weren't stars above the windows. But, my favorite July 4th memories remain here. We would come over for a bbq with the family and then walk down to the park at the end of the street. That park was kiddie-corner from Liberty Park, so we could see all the fireworks! I loved sharing those stories with our girls. We also hit The Dodo for some dessert since we were in the neighborhood!

Sydney was so excited to get her ballet costume that she tried it on, asked me to take a picture and then told me I should put it on the blog. She's so cute! Love the girl's ballet school.

Then, Brandon's preschool had a Mother's Tea last week. The Moms came and were served by our cute children. It was so fun. Brandon just stayed by my side and hugged me. He was really excited to have me there!

They sang a little program for us. Mostly songs about letters of the alphabet. So darling! Brandon sings these songs constantly at home and I love it!

After they were finished, they presented us with cute little flower pots that they had painted and planted a petunia! So precious!

I can't believe our baby is just about done with preschool! I'm having a hard time not wanting him to grow up! He's my buddy. Always there with a great hug or snuggle. Always wants me to tickle him. He likes to tell me stories.

I just hate to think that someday, he won't think I'm so much fun to hang with!