Pictures

Bryce showing off his injured arm.

I love taking pics of the boys in the van,because they can't run away from me. Ian is usually willing to give me a good smile.
My sweet Spencer! Notice his bucket of toys!
Me and my cousin Rosie. We had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Rosie and I share the same great grandma. My grandma and her grandma are sisters.
Rosie and Spencer. Walking to the building where Rosie was to be set apart.
Couldn't resist this pic! Nothing like a sleeping baby!
Happy Ian!
Bryce wanted to hold his "baby" brother. Spencer sure was a good sport.
The demented Easter Bunny. This was at the Make A Wish Easter Egg Hunt! So much fun!!!!
Spider-Man Ian!

So it's that time again...what time is that you ask??? Time to catch up on blogging. To be truthful, I've felt uninspired. I think most of you lead much more interesting lives than I do! For the most part, life is fairly calm around here. Of course, the boys do and say funny things, but by the time I think to blog about it I can't really remember what it was that I wanted to share...Anybody else have that problem?

Since I last blogged, quite a bit has happened. Let's see how much I can recall...hopefully without boring all of you to death! This month we've gone back down to Provo a couple times. We went down to support my cousin Rosie when she was set apart for her mission. We were so happy we could be there with her and what a neat experience she is embarking on! She will be serving in the Mesa Arizona Mission and we could possibly see her ( with mission president permission of course ) when we go to visit Mike's family in AZ. Maybe take her and her companion out for lunch!

Last weekend, we went down to Provo to go bowling at BYU. Why BYU you may ask...well we had two free bowling passes and of course we have fun exploring campus and letting the boys run around. As we were walking across campus, Bryce discovered the emergency boxes with the BIG red buttons that should only be pushed in an emergency. Fortunately, the campus police were a lot more patient and friendly about it than the 911 people...but that's a whole other story. I digress.... While there, we picked up some BYU creamery ice cream. Have any of you tried the Graham Canyon ice cream!????? Really it should be illegal it's so YUMMY! That's saying a lot too because I don't generally care for ice cream! We'll probably head back down to BYU sometime soon to try and hike the Y with the boys, hopefully before it gets too hot out!

Bryce has been doing well in school and having a good time. He is so close to being able to read. He can sound things out and knows tons of words by sight...We were on our way to the store and on the way we passed a Red Lobster...well Bryce shouts out "Red Lobster". I know he knows the word Red but we've never eaten at Red Lobster (Mike HATES seafood!)...so clearly he had figured it out on his own...I wonder how many signs he is reading along the road and just not saying anything. I'm sure none of this means a whole lot to you moms out there whose kids are geniuses and were reading as soon as they exited the womb...but I'm so proud of him...he's my first baby and I'm fascinated by the things that he is discovering and learning! Bryce is learning more and more primary songs and I LOVE to hear him singing them. Spencer is also learning them and singing along. SO fun to listen to them! Lately, Bryce has been having a hard time falling asleep at night... even though I know he is exhausted! He came into our room a couple nights ago and said to Mike and me "It's not easy to be a kid...it's not fair" . I sat there staring at him...I wanted to burst out laughing, but I didn't, I contained myself and calmly said to Mike " It's not easy being an adult...it's not fair"...of course the humor was lost on Bryce. I wish, that I could impress upon Bryce right now, the importance of enjoying childhood...he has the rest of his mortal existence to be an adult...some of us weren't even fortunate enough to have a childhood. Childhood is something I want my kids to enjoy! One more story about Bryce and I'll move on...we have started taking family walks...On Sunday after church and after dinner we decided to head out. Bryce begged us to let him ride his bike. We said ok and put his helmet on and we were off...we didn't even make it off our street before Bryce used his body to stop himself from breaking the sound barrier...did I mention that Hill AFB is full of hills...flat it is not....So Mike took him into the Wee Care because Bryce was favoring his left arm...he came home with a splint and a sling....tonight we were able to take it off and see how his arm is doing...he seems to be a little tender but much better! I wonder how long it will take us to talk him back onto his bike???...

Spencer and Ian are doing GREAT! Ian goes to primary, BUT he won't go to his class. He will only go if he can stay with Bryce's class. Yeah ....ummmm....Bryce's teacher is less than thrilled...Not sure what to do...the time I tried to make him go to Sunbeams and I stayed with him, he was hysterical and NOT amused! Ian has pretty definite opinions about what he wants and doesn't want, what he likes and doesn't like. Ian is such a neat kid. I look at him and can't believe he's the same kid who nearly two years ago was a very sick little guy! Ian is truly a walking miracle! He is smart, funny, warm, loving, happy, and opinionated! He is really looking forward to preschool this coming fall! I was going to enroll him this last year, but he didn't get his immunizations started up again until the end of October and then the swine flu thing was going around. I decided to keep him with me. Spencer continues to be the sweetest baby! Ok so maybe he isn't exactly a baby anymore, but he's still my baby. He loves to sing, play outside, walk around with a bucket full of toys...if he is on my lap he still likes to put his hand down my shirt and does the nursing motion with his little mouth! So funny! He sometimes crawls into our bed late at night, well after we have all gone to bed. He snuggles in with me and falls asleep instantly! He's so tender! Overall, I have some pretty neat little boys! They are all so unique and yet so similar.

Mike has been doing well! Keeping busy with work and school! He just finished up his first semester at Weber State. He took and English class and a Math class and got A's in both classes! I'm pretty pleased with him. It was a bit of a challenge to have him in school 3 nights a week...especially when I had to take the boys with me to Mutual. Fortunately, this coming semester he doesn't have class on Tuesday nights! YAY! For my part, well I'm doing alright! I don't really feel like I have anything to complain about and yet I feel like life is just passing me by! Not quite sure what I need to do about it...the truth is that I have many interests and many opportunities...and yet I sometimes feel like I'm living Ground Hog Day...perhaps it's just a phase! No doubt I'm not the only person to feel this way...this too shall soon pass...right???

Trip to Provo, Bowling and Time with Cousin Rosie.

BYU bowling alley. Rose, Me, Spencer, Mike, Bryce and Ian. So fun spending time with Rose!

Me with my cousin Rose. We invited a friend of ours and her children to join us. Rose is holding her baby.
Me and Spencer. Just finished bowling his frame...
Rose with Spencer at the Wilkonson Center. We had lunch before we went bowling.
Bryce and Rose.
Mike and Rose. I love the look on Bryce's face...I didn't even notice him in the picture until posted this picture...so funny!


So we took a trip down to Provo. We were able to spend some time with my cousin Rosie. It was so much fun! It's fun to spend time with family and also to spend time on BYU campus. I have so many fond memories of my time there as student! First, I hope my boys will choose to attend college, and then I hope that they will choose BYU! GO COUGARS!

Ian's Chuck E. Cheese Birthday

In February, Ian celebrated his 4th birthday. A little over a year ago, a Chuck E Cheese opened in Layton and it has become one of the boys' favorite places to go to have some fun! So we decided to take them there to celebrate Ian's birthday. We have a very talented friend Jen, who has a cake decorating business and so we asked her to make Ian's cake. Ian requested a robot cake....he is obsessed with anything and everything robot. LOL! Aunt Tammy was also with us to celebrate. The boys adore their aunt Tammy! Ian's birthday was a blast.

We are just so grateful to have Ian in our family. In his short 4 years he has truly overcome so many challenges. Today he is happy and healthy and doing so well! How grateful we are to have this special little boy in our family! He brings us an incredible amount of joy, happiness and laughter! He loves to play with his brothers, build things with legos, color and draw and is so excited to go to school! He is super opinionated and stubborn, traits no doubt that have helped him to endure well his challenges. He is loving and sweet and super cuddly! All in all he is SUPER neat! I think we'll keep him!
Bryce and Aunt Tammy
Spencer....doesn't look too thrilled...probably because this ride was broken....
Bryce and Ian bowling....have I mentioned that the boys love to bowl.... whether at the bowling alley or on the Wii, the boys love it! 9 times our of 10, Bryce kicks our trash....he's super good!
Me and my precious Ian!
Ian and Chuck E.
The awesome robot cake
Mike, Ian, Aunt Tammy, Bryce and Spencer
The birthday boy!

January Updates

We've been pretty busy this month. Getting back on a schedule after Christmas vacation, a couple birthdays, and Mike starting school at Weber State. I've been a bit lazy about updating the blog. Anyway, I thought it would just be easier for me to put up a bunch of pictures and write a little something by way of explanation. :-) Enjoy.
Today we took Spencer to the BX Barber for his very first hair cut. I'm a bit sad...he doesn't look much like a baby anymore. This pic is in the van after the hair cut.

Spencer wouldn't sit in the chair by himself like Bryce and Ian did. He got even more upset when he saw Mike come back into the Barber Shop. Over all he did a GREAT job!

I caught Spencer relaxing on the couch this morning. I thought it was so cute and funny all at the same time that I just had to take a picture. lol!

Ian eating some of mommys birthday cake. I think he likes it.

Bryce eating birthday cake too...if it has sugar in it, Bryce will eat it. LOL!

Me and Spence... I think we had just eaten our cake and ice cream.

This is Spencer's birthday cake. We had our dear friend Jen make his cake this year. She does great work. She has her own business and usually make weddind cakes. Spencer has really been into doggies lately and hence the dog theme.

Spencer on his birthday just chilling. He loves to ride this dump truck around the house.

Spencer eating his birthday dinner...hot dogs and chips.......not the healthiest of dinners but he liked it...

So on the first Saturday of every month, Home Depot has a kids corner activity that Mike takes the boys to. Anyhow they made wooden calendars this month and we decided to let the boys use washable finger paints to paint them. They had a blast and it was fun to see them have so much fun!

So I decided that because Ian has such thin fine hair, I needed to do something that would make it look thicker...my solution....some gel and hairspray. I love the spiked look...Ian..., well he's not so sure. The next time I tried to style his hair this way, he had a HUGE fit. He just doesn't have any idea how stinking cute he looks with spiked hair. He's a cutie!

Spencer is going to be 2 years old....

So I thought I would recognize Spencer's 2nd birthday that is coming up on January 5th. I can hardly believe my baby is two. Where has the time gone? Words cannot adequately express the love and affection I feel for this little boy! Spencer has been such a joy and a comfort over the last couple years. No doubt he will continue to be. He is loving, funny, smart, independent, stubborn, full of energy, cuddly, and all boy. This little guy loves to try anything his big brothers do and he wants to be out and about with them. I have to be careful about letting him go out into the backyard when I'm not there to supervise...his brothers have shoved him off the slide, run him over with their Jeep, and laughed as he ran outside the fence and into the street. I never knew a one year old could run so fast while laughing at his mom who is trying to chase him down. There is so much I could share about this neat little boy, mostly I just want everyone to know just how much I love him and just how grateful I am to be his mommy! I'm truly blessed!

Update

I need to apologize to the grandmas. I have been a slacker when it comes to keeping our family blog updated. I guess I've just felt like no news is good news for our family. We are doing well and looking forward to Christmas and the new year. The older the boys get, the more fun Christmas is. Everything is so magical for them and I love to see the excitement in their eyes and he it in their voices. We've had several conversations about why we celebrate Christmas and the boys think it's pretty neat that we celebrate "Jesus' birthday". This year we will be traveling to Phoenix to celebrate the holidays with grandma and grandpa Jackson as well as Aunt Tammy and Uncle Wilson. It's going to be so much fun! We have been teaching the boys some Christmas carols, I love to hear the boys sing. Even Spencer gets in on the action and has excellent pitch! Aunt Royce and grandma Milliman would be impressed! Next week we will be attending a Make A Wish Breakfast with Santa party in Ogden and the boys are thrilled, as if that weren't enough action, later in the afternoon we are going to one Mike's co-workers house for another Christmas where Santa is invited to attend! That is going to be a LONG day! LOL!
Bryce is doing well in school. I'm impressed with the amount of information he needs to learn in Kindergarten. He's in school ALL day long and when he gets home, sometimes he has a hard time keeping his eyes open. He has been learning lots of songs at school and the neat thing is that he has taught them to Ian and Spencer. I can often hear all three of them singing one of the "color" songs. Bryce has learned a song for each of the colors to help him learn how to spell the different colors. He become such a big helper. The other day I had mentioned that I needed them to pick up so I could vaccumm. Anyhow, I went off to do something and when I came back the room was picked up and he had started vaccumming. What a joy he is, I love him so much! We are so grateful to have him in our family!!!!!!
Ian is doing super well. He is healthy and strong. He learns so much from his big brother. Now that we have him potty trained, I'm going to enroll him in preschool this coming year. I'm so proud of Ian, he was trained in one day and hasn't had any accidents since the first day of training and hasn't used one pull up! It's neat to see how proud he is of himself! On a funny note, Ian as many of you know, can become quite attatched to things. Well, his latest love and attatchment has been the Toys R Us toy catalog that arrived a few weeks ago. It goes every where with him. It is well loved and he wants to make sure that everyone knows just what he would like for Christmas. Mike and I have learned a very useful parenting tool called "ignoring". Quite often Ian's requests have become whining fits and demands. He has a hard time understanding that not right now doesn't mean never. Anyway, we sure love him and think he's a neat kid, whining and all!
Spencer will be two years old in one month. I can hardly believe it....what happened to my baby. I've been holding off on giving him his first haircut...somehow he won't look much like a baby anymore once his hair is cut! He is now sleeping in a big boy bed and he loves it! He is so good natured, loves to play with his brothers, talks a ton and is just a joy to have in the family!
Mike and I are doing well. Mike was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea and he is getting that all figured out and fixed. Thank goodness! He has been so tired for soooooo long! And as everyone knows, a person who has been sleep deprived, they aren't terribly cheerful! Ready to have my sweetheart back. On December 1st, Mike sewed on Tech. We are all pleased with his achievement. In the fall he will be starting school at Weber State. He wishes it was BYU, but Weber will do.
For my part, I keep busy with housework, kids, appts, sewing projects, church callings.... I day dream about owning a home in a state I want to live in, being completely out of debt, going back to school for my masters or perhaps a nursing degree. I think of all the projects I'd like to start work on and yet don't have the time or money. I often have to remind myself that I can do it all, just not all at the same time. Such a hard concept for me to accept. I'm not known for my patience. LOL!
Last weekend, we wanted to get out of the house and just go for a ride. So we went down to Draper and visited IKEA. That store is so much fun to just walk around. I love it! The kids even have fun! Anyhow, after we were done, we went to the Harley Davidson dealership just a little further down I-15 to look around. Mike would love to own a motorcycle one day. For now it's just a dream. The boys have also expressed a love for motorcycles. We took some pics of the boys with daddy on a motorcycle and this photo below came out the best! Too bad Bryce is looking the other way.