Riding Quads at 3...........that's just what we do!!

After asking for weeks, we finally taught Mr. Grant how to ride the quad ALL BY HIMSELF!

He could not have been happier!!!

Yes he did just turn 3 and at our house that is when he teach them to ride quads alone!

Mr. Grant did awesome!  I am sure all his practice driving the putt-putt around the neighborhood helped with the steering.

Since The Smith's haven't yet landscaped it makes for the perfect place to ride quads just outside our garage.  They are happy as well because we keep down their weeds that way.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!

The story behind it is adorable as well!  

Justin had to go to Ace Hardware and of course Mr. Grant wanted to go.  BUT he refused to take his helmet off.  Justin thought he would kind of budge on the idea once they got to town.  Oh no, Mr. Grant was insistent!  So being the good daddy that Justin is, he took Mr. Grant all through the story, actually two stores, with his helmet on!

Turkey Trot

This Thanksgiving Day started out like many others..........The Turkey Trot!

This year it ended up being only Hunter and myself that raced.  Kiersten was signed up but got strep throat the day before.  She still wanted to race but she looked so sick I wouldn't let her.

I was so happy Hunter was there to run the race with me!  It was a gorgeous day for a 5K run!

I hadn't been the best with my Crossfit work outs in the months prior to this race.  But my goal was to run the whole way and I did!

27:39

.....about a minute slower then last year but I was happy!

Jeremy Bingham and I

I had a great time visiting with Steph and Jeremy as we waited for the drawings to be handed out after the race was finished.

And you'll never believe it, I know I didn't, but I actually got drawn and won $25 to Pollock's!

I had told Steph if I won I would do the whole Price Is Right run down to get my prize.  You know I am a woman of my word so that is just what I did!

Aiden, Bailey, Gavin and Hunter

Hunter had fun running with these boys.

He ended up running about 3/4 of the way!

Great job Hunter!

Steph and I

I just love this woman!

I am so thankful for her friendship!  

We've helped each other through some crazy times that's for sure!

Our Thanksgiving dinner plans were to go to my parents house this year but with Kiersten being sick and my mom recovering from her last round of chemo we decided we'd better stay home.  So I went and got dinner from my moms.  We of course had pitted a turkey, thanks to our good friends the Binghams for always letting us do that with them!  So I got everything else from my moms and returned home.  We had a nice, laid back dinner.........actually we were going to ride quads later in the day so we didn't even get cleaned up or anything.

One thing I had done was make these cute little May Flower boats filled with rocks (thank you Pinterest).  As we ate Thanksgiving dinner, we went around and each of us took out a rock and said something we were thankful for.  Here is our lists....

Justin is thankful for...

His beautiful wife, that he didn't do the Turkey Trot, good weather today, that Kiersten is feeling better then yesterday, family and cute kids, that we aren't at Disneyland, time off of work, Temple in the Gila Valley, and the good choices our kids make

Becky is thankful for...

My family, good health, The gospel of Jesus Christ, my mother, handsome husband, Disneyland, Justin's job that provides a good living for us, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, kids that like to be involved in the arts, Our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness and vacations!

Kiersten is thankful for...

Family, food, house, Dance, backyard, playhouse, that she gets to buy cute clothes, Disneyland, friends, for growing up LDS, good health and not being in a hospital,  and that where we live is a safe place.

Hunter is thankful for...

A home, soda, Kiersten his lovely sister (those were his exact words), his dad has a good job, ATV's, silly Grant, Disneyland, his pet bearded dragon Spike, Dad, his hair, his good looks and everything about the gospel.

Logan is thankful for...

Mom and dad, love, family, the earth, Heavenly Father, Grammy Cluff, Disneyland, hamburgers, sports, skateboards, crazy brother Hunter, and people that take care of him and respect him...like Grammy Cluff.

Mr. Grant is thankful for...

The rocks, Disneyland, Disneyland, Disneyland, Disneyland, Disneyland, Disneyland, Cheeseburgers, Disneyland, Disneyland, Disneyland and last but not least Disneyland.

So a couple of explanations here..........

Logan had just been on his birthday sleep over with Grammy Cluff the night before and some sleep over it must have been because he mentioned her twice in what he was thankful for and the skateboard he got her as well.  It was so cute!

Mr. Grant well he loves Disneyland and Mickey Mouse.  He asks me several times a week, if not every day, if I will take him to Disneyland!  He tells me all the time he wants to go to Disneyland.  After seeing the pictures from this summer when I took the other kids but left Mr. Grant home he is bound and determined that I take him to Disneyland like the other kids.  Remember he is only 3! So with that explanation you'll understand why each of us mentioned Disneyland as well.  Mr. Grant kind of insisted that we each say "Disneyland."  Now the Cheeseburger comment from him means he has watched Madagascar 3 WAY TOO MANY TIMES in the car as we drive the kids to all their after school activities.  Those of you that have seen it know what I am talking about.  When he said it he just started laughing and thought he was so funny!

All in all it was a wonderful day and we have so much to be thankful for!

Gila Valley Strings Showcase

Kiersten and Hunter were both party of the Gila Valley String's Showcase at the Safford Center for the Arts.

Mrs. Skinner wanted Kiersten to play with the high school group but Kiersten was too shy.  So she played with her age of kids as well as at the junior high level.  Besided playing with his age group, Hunter was able to play one song with the junior high kids and was proud of himself for that.  We are so proud of these two!   We love hearing the sounds of the violin ringing through the house each morning.

What good lookin' kids we have!

After the show was over, our good friend Terry Williams, let the kids have a run with the place.  He turned on rock and roll music and the kids went WILD!

This picture isn't good but man did Logan put on a show with his dancing.  We had several people that were still there comment on Logan's dancing and ability to entertain.  Even Terry was like, "we need to book that kid here!"

Terry even let the kids play with the lights!

Man did they think this was AMAZING!

We enjoyed the concert and the fun we had at the Center for the Arts afterwards!

Dentally Challenged

All of our kids have been dentally challenged.  I don't think any of them have lost teeth until at least mid 1st grade.  Which I guess isn't a bad thing so says the dentist.

(Logan 11-19-2012)

Logan was extremely excited to finally loose his first tooth.
He was thrilled to get two gold dollars!

Shootin' with The Norton's

We had a wonderful time shooting with Tracy Norton and his girls.

Kiersten and Grant stayed at Grammy Boswell's house to keep out of the cold.

Watch out!

It was so much fun having Tracy teach us all about cop stuff.

Logan getting some tips on how to aim.

Love our little squirrel gun.  It's perfect for the kiddos!

This is Tracy teaching us how to enter a building in style!

Don't we look like the real deal!

Get ready.....

I don't think Hunter was prepared for the power of the 9MM.

He sure loved shooting dad's 22 250.

Hunter enjoyed Tracy's AR 15!!!

Thanks Tracy for the fun morning of shooting!

Can you see the bullets that were ejected in these last too pictures?

Why You Driving In Circles?

So today my afternoon did not go as I had planned.  I was hoping to get started on my wall that I am going to stencil.  Instead I get a call from Kim Skinner, the kids violin teacher.  She asks me if I can drive kids to the violin practice today.  Both Hunter and Kiersten are part of the Gila Valley Strings Showcase, which will perform next week at the Safford Center for the Arts.  Keep in mind my kids aren't actually part of the strings group at school...they both are taking private lessons from Kim this year.  I love Kim so I said sure I could drive some extra kids from strings.

.  

What it actually would involve is picking kids up at 12:10, taking them to the Safford Center for the Arts.  Returning at 1:30 to pick up some of the kids and return them to school back in Pima.  Then be back at 2:30 to pick up my kids and a few more and return the extra kids back to the school.  

Mr. Grant and I did find time in the mist of the running to stop at Denny's and have a very quick lunch with my good friend Rue.  After I picked up my last batch of kids, including mine, and dropped the extras off at school, I checked Logan out early.  It was 2:45 by this time.  So it was back in the car to go to town to take Kiersten to dance by 3:00 and the boys by 4:00.

As we were making the last drive in to take kids to dance Mr. Grant asked me, "Where are we going?"  

I told him, "Back to town."

He replied, "Mom why you keep driving in circles? You lost mom?"

He then went on to give me a lecture about how me driving in circles didn't make sense.  Let's remember he just turned three.  And keep in mind Madagascar 3 was playing the whole time we were driving.  It amazes me how much even the little tikes pay attention to.  I love that he thought it was concerning that we were "driving in circles" because that was exactly what we were doing.

What a guy!

I often feel like I am "driving in circles" and yes I even feel "lost" when that happens.

Thanks for paying attention and for checking to make sure we weren't actually lost..........nope just driving in circles on purpose!

Love You Mr. Grant!

Musical Feet

First off, I told Logan I wanted to take a picture of him and this is how he posed!

What a STUD!

Yesterday morning when Logan woke up he came running in to me.  He was so very excited!  He usually wakes up groggy, but not this certain morning.  No he woke up full of energy!

He came running to me yelling, "Mom, Mom, guess what I dreamed all night about?"

I asked very excited, "WHAT?"

He replied, "I dreamed about dancing!  All night long!"

  He then went into specifics of the dances he learned while he was sleeping!  He showed me some flashy foot work!  I was actually very impressed!

I just love this kid!

He makes things cheerful and fun at our house.  I love that he loves to dance!  He will be ready to impress the ladies at high school dances for sure.  He is a major flirt and he just LOVES the Ladies!

He is excited to start private dance lessons with Rena Dela Cruz.  She is an awesome teacher! 

Another Dance Competition Down

I think I love our weekends at dance competitions just as much as Kiersten does!

We always find time to fit in shopping, eating some place yummy, staying in a hotel.....on top of the competition itself.

Makes for great mother daughter memories!

What a treat it is to be Kiersten's mom!

It was a great dance competition!

Kiersten did a jazz number, tap number and a hip hop number.

Her group received high gold for both the hip hop and tap numbers.  Their jazz number they took a gold.

Kiersten just loves being in company!  This is such a great group of girls!

This competition was held at Higley High School.

We were so happy that Stacy Moore made it to watch Kiersten perform.  She also drug four of her five boys to watch as well.  What a wonderful friend she is!

We were so happy she was also able to join us for dinner.... it was great to catch up with her!

After the competition on Saturday we headed to Olive Garden.....yummy!

I love their hair styles this competition......three bun mow hawk.....isn't it adorable?

We got a lot of complements on Kiersten's hair through out this day.

We made time before we headed home for the weekend to stop off at the mall.  Kiersten had a ball riding this little rhino through out the mall.  You can take it any where on the bottom level.  She was so sweet and made several comments that she wished the boys were with us because she know how much they would have loved riding it as well.

It was a great weekend!

I had a blast being silly with my girl!

I love that we can act silly together and really feed off each other.  Kiersten is a dream daughter for sure!  I hope she stays that way during her teenage years!

Love you Kiersten!

"You Not Mad Right, Mommy?"

Who could be mad when he is so excited because, he did it "all by myself."

When I first walked in the room I must have looked mad because before I could even say a word 

Mr. Grant said, "You Not Mad Right Mommy?"

How could I be.........he is too stickin cute!

Pretty chocolaty chocolate milk but how could I tell him he couldn't actually drink it when he was so happy he made it?  I have no idea how many spoon fulls of Nestle Quick mix went in to this but he loved it!

Girls Weekend

I was very excited to have a girls weekend with my sister-in-laws and good friend Tressie.  This year we were all able to travel up together in my Escalate.  It was a so fun to ride together.....talking, laughing and just enjoying a break from regular life.

If it wasn't for Tif we wouldn't have these fun pictures!  She was really on a roll with having us pose........she just makes me laugh!  I love her so much!

Can you tell what we are trying to spell?

T.O.F.W.

Time Out For Women

This is what we went to Friday evening and Saturday.  It was wonderful!  Very uplifting, inspirational and motivating!  Great speakers, fabulous singers and musicians.

Just a great weekend of shopping, yummy food and amazing company!

Can't wait to do it again next year!  I sure love this tradition.......thanks mom for always making sure we go to this!

More then one way to kill a rabbit!

The boys came running into the kitchen today so excited to show me something outside!

They had been riding the razor and ran over a rabbit.  They were so happy with their kill!

What else do boys do when they live in the sticks?

Pretty impressive!

Rain Gutter Regatta

Hunter was very excited about the cub scout rain gutter regatta.  This year they decided to just have the boys make and paint the boats at scouts.  Hunter was a little bummed because he was excited to make his boat with his dad!  It is so sweet to see how much Hunter adores his dad!

It wasn't really a big competition.......they didn't really keep tabs on who one.  They just let the boys take turn racing each other.  It was kind of nice for a change! 

Hunter won some and he lost some.  He was a good sport when he lost, even thought I could tell he was bummer he handled it well.  I was so proud of him!

Way to go Hunter!  He sure loves being in scouts and actually being able to go to scouts.  Last year he never could go to scouts weekly because he had dance class at the same time.  We had signed up for dance prior to him entering scouts.  We were all bummed last year when he couldn't go...........that meant we had to do it ALL at home!

This year is much better and Hunter is truly loving scouts!

His scout leader commented to me recently what a great kid Hunter is.  She said how well behaved he is and that he makes her calling a lot of fun!  Comments like that just make a parent beam!

Love you Hunter!