Cousins

Have you missed me? It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted, but I have a good excuse, we've been on vacation in Utah and Wyoming. So any of you that hate looking at people's vacation photos should just skip my blog for a couple of weeks because I have LOTS of photos to post and here comes the first batch! The first week we were in Utah ALL of our Young cousins were there. This just does not happen very often, with some of us not living in Zion, so of course we had to take pictures. We just went over to Todd and KyLee's house and took the pictures in their backyard. The original plan was to have everyone in an outfit of their choosing that reflected an interest of theirs, but then that kind of fell through, but some still wanted to, that is why some of the kids are in uniforms, leotards and swimming suits!

The girls

The three oldest girl cousins in their matching shirts!

All 18 cousins on the Veenker's water/snow slide in their backyard!

The boys

All 18 Young cousins

Piano Recital

Yesterday was the girls piano recital. It was Sam's first one, but Amanda seemed the most nervous! I think our entire family will never get "The Can-Can" out of our heads! She played it over, and over, and over, trying to get it right! She ended up doing a great job, in fact both girls did! Of course I couldn't get the video camera to work until right after they were done, so these pictures and our memory of The Can-Can are all we've got!

Sam playing a duet with her teacher.

Amanda RUNNING away from the piano after she was done!

Connor's Birthday

If any of you read Sammies blog you might think I'm a terrible mother, and I feel the need to clarify that. She posted about Connor's birthday and said something to the effect that we forgot about his birthday so he didn't get a party. I did not forget my son's birthday, but he did not get a party. This is the problem. We did a horrible job on planning the births of our children. We clumped them together. Amanda's and Madison's birthday's (I think that is too many possessives but I'm not sure where they are supposed to go so I put them all in!) are just two days apart and Sam's and Connor's are two weeks apart. It basically means I have to be planning two birthday parties at once. I don't multi task well. What has happened in the past is the second birthday, which also happens to be the youngest child, gets put on the back burner. When the first one is over there is no time to plan the next one. So far I have gotten away with no birthday parties for Connor and he hasn't realized it. This year was different. He woke up on his birthday and the first words out of his mouth were, "Mom, it's my birthday today, we better get my goodie bags ready for my party!" It was then that I knew I was in trouble! We happened to have a little Mommy and Me play group that was supposed to meet that day at a park. I thought quickly and moved quickly and made pirate cupcakes a treasure hunt, complete with gold coins, eye patches and other pirate booty and just took it all to the play group. Connor got his party with some friends and I got off the hook for one more year! That night we did have a little family party where Connor got his first bike, technically not his first bike, just the first one he'll ride! He has never liked any sort of ride on toys, tricycles or bikes. I know most kids his age are way past the training wheel stage, but we are so excited that he finally loves riding a bike! He wants to go on "walks" on it every day! What a boy!

Pirate cupcakes

My little bike rider...finally!

Talking to Uncle Josh on his birthday!

That's my girl!

It's no secret, I love diet Coke. I'm not obsessive and I don't drink it all day, but I have one glass of it with my lunch, and one at dinner. Well, Madison sits next to me at the dinner table and has picked up on my love of this particular beverage. She has decided she loves it too. I put a straw in my cup sometimes so she can have a couple of drinks. I know it's not good for her so she is limited to a couple of sips every few days. The other day she was begging for a drink but she was at her limit so I wasn't giving her any. Lucky for her the doorbell rang and so I went to answer the door, leaving my lunch on the table. When I came back she had pulled the table cloth towards her and had finished off my Coke! I think she's sneaky. My friend pointed out that this just shows that she's not necessarily sneaky, she's a problem solver, she saw what she wanted and figured out how to get it, and this skill will get her far in life. We'll see how that turns out. All I know is that the girl loves diet Coke, just like her mom!

Happy, well sort of, 4th of July

So my intentions were to deck my kids out in cute, red, white and blue outfits and take their picture to post for 4th of July. Didn't happen. By the time everyone was dressed today Madison was already way past due for a nap, so she was unpleasant. All Connor wanted to do was ride his bike, and then he crashed so he was unhappy. I couldn't get Sam out of the house, and Amanda was already gone to a friends house. So these shots are all I've got. So happy, sort of, 4th of July!

American Girl

Last night Samantha and I went and saw the movie "Kit Kittredge-An American Girl". It was really good! Samantha got her first (and probably only!) American girl doll for Christmas this year, and the one she picked was Kit. I guess I need to correct myself, Sam, KIT and I went and saw the movie last night. Sam has been counting the days until this movie came out, so last night she got Kit dressed in her new dress and we all headed out for a girls night! I was really fun to just do something with just Sam and I. It seems with four children that your one on one time is so limited, so you really have to take advantage of it when you can. So for any of you out there with a daughter this movie is a can't miss. It's not going to be winning any academy awards, but it's a sweet and very harmless!

Happy Birthday X2!

Today is Connor's 5th birthday! One of the great things about his birthday is that he gets to share it with one of his favorite people, his grandpa Dell! I remember when I first told my in-laws that I was pregnant and when my due date was, which was June 25, Dell said, "Maybe you will go over and have the baby on my birthday!" Only a man could tell you that you should go PAST your due date with a smile on his face, am I right ladies? Well, he got his wish when Connor was born on July 1st at 8:00 PM! It's actually has turned out OK and every year we love celebrating both birthdays. In fact Dell has spent more birthdays with Connor than Shaun has! We always seem to be in Utah this time of year! Happy Birthday to two of my favorite people!