First Taste of Summer

Well our pool is FINISHED!!!!

It's like a dream come true.  I honestly have to pinch myself when I look out in our yard and see this gorgeous pool!  I am so grateful to be able to enjoy such a sweet luxury!

Kiersten and I happened to be in Phoenix, at a dance competition, on the Saturday that the pool finished filling up.  So we missed out on the first jump in.

The boys were all thrilled as one could imagine!

It was FREEZING cold so all they did was jump in and swim across the pool and get out!  This year we are anxiously awaiting the heat!!!

#loveourpool #feelingblessed #bringontheheat

5K for Diabetes

Our friend, Callie Rogers has Type 1 Diabetes and her dad helped organize this 5K run for the second year in a row.  The kids were excited to be in town to participate this year!  Justin of course volunteered to stay home and watch Ella :) He is not a runner!

I love this crazy rocker kid!

The run was called Rock of Ages so Grant's attempt at rock and roll sign is totally fitting!

He is getting rocked and ready for the run!

This is after the run.

Logan, Grant and Ryker

These are the group of dance girls that came to show support for their dance sister Callie.

Well and then there a weirdo in the back photobombing....hehehe!

All 3 of the kids got metals!!

Woot Woot Cluff Kids!

Silvio was such a good sport and ran/walked with Grant.

They were so cute to watch running in the last bit!

I am so happy and proud of Logan.  He got first place in his age group.  The age group was 9-13 year olds!  He barely turned 9 at the end of January, so to win first against everyone so much older than you is quite an accomplishment!

He is super athletic and I foresee us watching him at track meets in the years to come.

Way to go Logan!

Grant was thrilled to metal as well.  He got 3rd in the 8 and under age group.  There weren't a lot of kids his age but he did beat several of them so he was happy.

His buddy Dexen got 2nd place and Ryker got 1st place.

A family that runs together stays together!

I was happy to accomplish my goal of running the whole 5K.  I haven't been back to working out since I broke my foot at the end of October.  I gotta get back in the habit of hitting the gym again.  I was happy that I ran the whole way though.  We went to Denny's for breakfast to celebrate all the metals!  Hunter was very sad to miss the run but he had a campout for scouts and wasn't home to join us.

Love This Little Lady

This little lady exhausts me and at the same time is one of my greatest blessings!  I love the difference Ella Jane has made in our family! 

ALL her siblings adore her in a way that is indescribable. She loves to do a half laugh half choking thing....which is what she is doing in this picture. So grateful, after much convincing, she decided to come to our family! 

My Kind of FHE

I needed a little "Tif Time", as I like to put it.  So we left the husbands at home and took the kids to the Safford park and then grabbed a treat at the Dairy Queen!

It was so refreshing to visit with Tif!

We really gotta do this more often!!

Mr. Grant's New Trick

Grant sure was happy to show me what he taught himself to do today! 

Yet that's right this kid can start himself out and SWING without any help!!!  

"Being 5 is cool Mom" said this awesome kid!  Being able to swing yourself any time you want is a pretty cool thing!  I love seeing the excitement in Grant's eyes when he gains a little more independence. But it makes me sad at the same time because it means he is growing up!  

Love Is In The AIR

I have to say this kid is a full romantic at heart! I love Hunter's creativity for sure. 

He wanted to ask Callie Rodgers to be his Valentine. He decided he would give her the princess balloon from our Disneyland trip.

Snow White is pretty awesome! 

He also wrote Callie a poem, ALL ON HIS OWN I MIGHT ADD, asking her to be his Valentine. Read that poem it would impress any grown woman let alone an 11 year old girl! 

He wanted to get all dressed up in his suit to deliver it to Callie!  He had to ask her the week before Valentine because he was afraid she would get asked if he waited any longer!  

Jenny said Callie was so surprised she didn't even know how to react, but once she realized what it was for Callie was all Smile!  Now to wait for her response.....the anticipation killed Hunter.

 

It only took a day before he got his answer. He was relieved it was a YES!!! 

Now on to the creative gift. I told Hunter he could just buy Callie some candy and a stuffed animal. His response killed me. He said, "Mom this is Callie Rodgers we are talking about. I can't just give her a generic stuffed animal I have to really impress her!"

So he worked hard and made her a duct tape purse and wallet!  

I'm guess she'll be impressed cause I know I was! 

Then we wrote her a secret message on this heart. We laminated it and spray painted the inner heart shape with gold paint. So Callie had to use a gold dollar to scrape off the paint and find her Valentine message from Hunter. It was super cool! 

Here Callie's gift is all ready to go. 

Callie dropped off a candy gram and a dancing stuffed animal to Hunter and he was thrilled!

It's so cute to see Hunter have a little crush on Callie. Especially when I know it's so innocent. When he gets all those raging hormones then I won't like this Valentine thing as much! 

Silvio's Exchange Trip To Las Vegas

Silvio was excited to go with the EF group of exchange students for a weekend in Vegas!

He said he saw lots of crazy people just like we told him he would. 

This could have been the highlight of the trip though....

Seeing the Grand Canyon. Was. Amazing!

Silvio really loved it!!! And I'd have to agree it is remarkable! 

He also enjoyed the ride at the top of the Stratosphere in Vegas. 

It dangles you off the side of the hotel and spins you all around. It was a fun trip!  They got to stay in two houses that EF rented so that was extra cool as well. Silvio said they got lots of free time to roam around which he enjoyed. He was shocked when he went to look for a swim suit and found some for sale for $400. Holy smokes....that Vegas for ya Baby! 

Disneyland 2015

The kids main Christmas present this past year was a trip to Disneyland. Well the trip finally arrived! 

It was wonderful weather in February, perfect for 3 days at the Happiest Place on Earth! 

Mr. Grant was sure happy to use his money to by himself some Mickey ears! 

Grant and I on Autotopia.  Watch out he is driving!!

Love this boy and how he posed with a cotton candy mustache when I asked him if I could take his picture!

He is such a character!

I was super excited to eat at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  This is Linda Welker's favorite place to eat in Disneyland.  We knew it was pricey because you're paying for the experience not just the food.

Hunter was thrilled with his light up ice cube included in his lemonade!

We all thought the food was really good!

I loved my dish..........yummy!  Plus it was nice to sit down and be waited on.

Everyone scarfed down their food, which is food because it wasn't cheap.  It was nice to try something new while at Disneyland.

We have to have a picture here waiting in line for Toy Story Mania, it's a tradition!

Even though Justin is not a fan of Disneyland, I am still a fan of him!  We had a good time and he likes Disneyland a lot better when it's not overly crowded or hot!

Thanks to Grandma Boswell and Grandma Cluff we didn't have to bring Ella with us.  She wouldn't have been very fun on this trip, nor would she have cared much about being at Disneyland.

Having fun in Cars Land!

We made some cute hippie if you ask me!

Selfie with the Mickey Fun Wheel

So I asked Kiersten and Hunter to pose for me.......it's harder to get a serious good picture of these two than it is of Ella and Grant.  But I love their goofiness!

Grant was pretty proud of the fact that he ate his turkey bone clean.

Oh My Goodness the new Light Parade if AMAZING!!!

We loved it so much!  We just couldn't get over how impressive all those lights were.

And it is always fun to see a few princesses!

Remember our kids had $100 from Christmas..........well, Mr.  Grant spent every penny I think!  He was the biggest shopper out of all the kids (the cars suitcase was already his from Grandma Cluff, from his 3rd birthday).  It was comical to be with Grant this trip!

As we headed out we ate breakfast at Ihop, right outside Disneyland and man was the balloon artist there super good!

Just look at these balloons!

Justin said he even wanted to ask for a balloon, just because it was so fun to watch the balloon guy, so that means a lot!  We had a great time at the Happiest Place on Earth!  It's kind of cool when you find out that your 11 year old had to remind the 17 year old exchange student not to complain about the lines because, "hey it could be a weed pulling day!"  Grateful to have such good kids and to have gotten to take them on this trip to Disneyland.  Silvio wasn't super impressed with Disneyland, I think he would enjoy Six Flags more.  All in all though, it was a fun trip!