The 'tude is back

Madison has had a fever and not felt well since Friday afternoon. I enjoyed her quiet demeanor, lethargic behavior, and almost non-existent attitude for a couple of hours. But that wore off. As she continued to not feel any better for days I realized I missed her normally crazy, loud, demanding, fun little personality!Her fever finally broke last night and we heard her laughing at her brother and running around. She's still not 100% but it's sure good to have her back!PS-Thanks Lizzie for the picture!

Last day of summer/First day of school

Summer came to an end too soon. We had to get in one more trip to Disneyland before school started. We just had a few hours the day before school started between kindergarten orientation and soccer practice so off we went!

The tram ride into Disneyland.


Connor's favorite thing to do at California Adventure.

The tram ride back to our car, just three hours, and only five rides later! It was short but sweet trip to Disneyland.
We had a great time but the next day it was back too school!
A kind of blurry picture of my 7th grader (we were in a hurry, I was running late!). She was about as excited to start 7th grade as she looks in this picture! She loves school, just not all the unknowns that the first day brings!
Sam was up bright and early with out me having to bug her. She willingly got dressed and made her lunch. I'm guessing that's the last time this year that will happen. She is pretty excited to be a fifth grader!
First day of kindergarten for this one.
This little one thought she was headed off to school too. She was sad when we went to drop Connor off and she realized that she had forgotten her Dora backpack!

Nothing Bundt Cakes

I have a new favorite thing, bundt cakes, and even more specifically, Nothing Bundt Cakes. It's this great little bakery that sells...you guessed it...nothing but bundt cakes! There is one not far from me and I went there a little while ago and loved it. I love bundts, all shapes and sizes. My mom and I found a mini fluted tube pan at Michael's the other day and I couldn't resist (especially because my mom offered to buy it for me!). My kids have had as much fun with it as I have. Here's Mads with her mini masterpiece.
Connor's creation.
Samantha's sprinkle bundtlette.
It was one of Amanda's friends birthday the other day and so we made this cute mini bundt for her.

Go Bolts!

Last night we got to go to the Charger's first pre-season football game. We don't get to go to many games for a couple of reasons. One, the games are usually on Sundays and two, I'm not much of a football fan. But my kids, the older ones anyway, love the games. Shaun had to work at the game so I took the kiddos. One of the perks of Shaun working there was that we got his primo parking pass. We got to park for free (saved us $25) and we park really close, up where the players park (mine was the only minivan in the lot). The bad part is going in the wrong gate and trying to get into the lot. What a hassle, but it was worth it. Everyone had a great time at the game, although the little ones were ready to go by the third quarter so we did skip out a little early! Who knows, I may become a football fan yet!
The gang in our seats.
There's Shaun down on the sidelines. Can you spot him?

Connor's first soccer game

Connor had his first soccer game of the season last night. He is playing on a different league this year and so his games are on Friday evenings instead of on Saturdays. This works well for our family since both girls will be playing on Saturdays. The coach ordered their jerseys late so they didn't have them for this game, instead they used Pennes (sp?). The best part of the whole game was when Connor got all tangled up in his penne. He was running around the field with his head and both of his arms all tangled up in it! I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to fall off of my chair. It was hilarious! I just wish I had been able to get my camera out in time to capture it on film!
Getting and end of the game cool down. He loves after each game to pour the rest of his water bottle on his head. The kid is crazy!

A day at the beach

No Girls Allowed!

Amanda had a friend over this afternoon and did not want Connor bugging her, so she banned him from her room, imagine that! He decided to get back by not allowing any of the girls in his room, and he figured out a sure fire way to keep them out. Not one, but two pairs of pirate underwear hanging on the doorknob. If that isn't enough to keep them turning that door knob, I don't know what is!

Summer...Young style

It's been forever since I last posted! We have had a very busy, fun filled summer, and I'd hate for any of you to miss a minute of it! So grab a snack and pull up a comfortable chair while I fill you in on our summer...Young style! We celebrated Connor's birthday as a family with CCC, Connor Cup Cakes! We spent a couple of weeks at the pool with all four kids in swimming lessons! On the fourth of July we watched fireworks from the back of our van. Our friends the Johnsons, who now live in Texas came to visit. The kids had so much fun together, it was like they had never left. Alyson and I also had a great time visiting and catching up on each other's busy lives! About a week before we left to go to Utah my brother Logan flew out to visit us. Of course we played a little Guitar Hero while he was here! We also made multiple trips to Trader Joes, for peanut butter filled pretzels, and to Pinkberry, two of my favorite places! We made a trip to the Wild Animal Park where every one's favorite part was feeding the lorikeets. Logan conversing with a feathered friend.We then headed up to Utah. Me, four kids and Logan riding shotgun in our minivan. At one point during the 11 hour drive I think I heard him mumble something about buying a round trip ticket next time. I'm sure he loved every minute of it! One of the first things on our list to do in Utah was go swimming in Logan's friend Kristen's pool. The kids had so much fun that we ended going back a second time! Thanks Kristen! Connor will do whatever it takes to be able to relax! One morning my dad and I took my two girls and their cousin Amy(in their matching cousin shirts!) to Color Me Mine to paint ceramics. Amy came all the way from England for my brother Josh's wedding so we tried to cram in as nuch cousin time as we could with her! Us die hard Harry Potter fans went to a midnight showing of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". The highlight of our trip to Utah was the wedding of my brother Josh and my newest sister-in-law Kristy. It was a great day and I have so many pictures, I've tried to narrow it down to some of my fav's but that was really hard! We are very excited to have Kristy in our family, even if she is a vegitarian! Matt picking out a toast from Grandads "Goodfellow's Toast Book." Grandpa and the kids ready to go! We had a couple of set backs in trying to get to the wedding including getting lost, a car out of gas, and the best man taking the grooms shirt! The whole family Me and my handsom and very funny brothers. Not a single good picture of me in the bunch, I'm laughing in every single one. Those boys are so funny together! "Brother hugs" "Make everyone else who is watching uncomfortable brother hugs" Madison guarding the gifts.Matt sticking his head in the cutting of the cake picture. It's a Holman family tradition. This is at the reception after a REALLY long day for the kiddos! After the wedding we had a little more down time to relax and enjoy our short time with Matt and Amy. One Sunday we headed up to BYU to visit Holman Hill (not it's real name, but it should be!) and Grandpa's office. Since it was a Sunday, in the middle of summer campus was desserted, so we let the kids play in the fountain in front of Grandpa's office. At first they just wanted to wade in it but it wasn't long before COnnor was full on swimming in it! It was a lot of fun being in Utah for July 24th, Pioneer Day. It's a real holiday there and so much fun! We went down to a park in Provo where they had a whole extraveganza going! Antique cars, a mini farmers market, DIY craft booths for the kids, games, live entertainment, and of course lots of good food! Connor doing an indian dance! Connor's favorite part, a real cannon with real cannon balls! Connor asking someone 2 million questions about the cannon. We had a little water party over at the Youngs. Gandpa got his big water slide out to play with but I think the kids played in the little pool more than on the slide! I think all their cousins that were there are in the pool except for Nixon who was in the sand box! Yes Shaefer is in there he's just hiding! Another fun thing we did with some of our Young cousins and one of my favorite things we did while in Utah was go to Seven Peaks water park. I haven't been there since I was in High School and it was so much fun! Connor and Madison spent every minute that Grandpa Tom would allow having Grandpa fights! We missed having Blakey Bones and Cader tot there to join in too!Speaking of hours on end, the big girls got to spend lots of quality time sleeping over, playing games, making cousin wipeout and lots of other fun things with their cousin McKinsey and other Young cousins, I just didn't get any pictures of it! The big girls got to attend the Oquirrh(pronounced oaker) Mountain Utah temple open house with the Young side of the family. All of us were supposed to go but that morning Madison came down with the stomach flu and then when Connor realized that wearing church clothes was involved her bowed out also. At some point we decided we needed to get home, but not too quickly. We stopped at Cove Fort, Utah an old pioneer fort and let the kids get out, go on a tour, and learn more about our church history. It was very intersting and we had the most patient, kind missionary tour guide. She answered every one of Connor's 3 million questions! We then went on to St. George and spent a couple of days there to attend my cousin Lizzie's wedding. Here's the cute newlyweds, Huck and Lizzie. The kiddos hanging out on the St. George temple grounds. Amanda had to stay out on the temple grounds and watch all three siblings on her own. If you know Amanda this was a BIG deal! Thank goodness for my cousin Amy and her cooler of water. Thanks Amy! You're awesome! While in St. George for the wedding we found this fun little park with a very cool water feature for the kids to play in. They had a blast and it was a great way to cool down! So that's our summer in a nutshell. We feel really lucky to have been able to spend so much time with family. It's been a great summer!