November

I love the month of November.  It's almost always beautiful weather, the beginning of the holiday season, and has one of my favorite holidays in it. 

We started out our month with Red Ribbon week at the elementary school.  It was at the middle school too, but Connor and Kadee are Lame-O and wouldn't participate.  Kinlee and Matthew were excited to participate and as always their favorite day was crazy hair day. 

The next week we celebrated Matthew's birthday at the Wave Pool.  He was so excited to have an actual party that he invited his whole class.  Only a few kids from his class showed up, but he didn't even notice.  He loved the Pizza, cupcakes, swimming with friends, and all the presents.  He made a killing on presents!  Taylor came home the day after his birthday, so we went to Olive Garden and they sang to him and he got free dessert.  He insisted on sharing it with Taylor, it was so cute.  Speaking of Taylor,  we were so excited to pick him up from the airport.  The kids all made signs and everyone of the the Bradley grandkids were able to be there.  It was such a fun day and we are so excited to have our Tay home, even if it is only until January when he moves to Cedar City for school. 

A couple weeks later Matthew had his grandparent Thanksgiving program at school.  It is one of my favorites and I'm so sad this was our last one!  He got to be a pilgrim who came in on the Mayflower and sang some of the cutest Thanksgiving songs.  He was lucky enough to have lots of people there supporting him and even got to have a treat with his grandparents.

We spent Thanksgiving at my Uncle DR's house.  It was so fun!  Janene pretty much prepared the whole meal and it was amazing.  Rory and I made a snickers pie that was absolutely divine and we all ate until we were stuffed.  We played a really fun game called the name game and the boys won every time (boo!).  The kids loved it and DR loved having people to play games with.     

After dinner the kids wanted to go to black Friday shopping to see what it was all about, so we stopped at Wal-Mart in Spanish fork. Rory kept telling the kids to watch for the chaos so Matthew said let's get some chaos! I asked him what chaos was and he took my hand and we started shopping. He and Kinlee got new jammies, slippers, and a pillow, he said he loves his new chaos!

I think that's it for November, it was jam packed full of fun and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

October

October has always been one of my favorite months.  We started the month with Kadence getting her braces on. She was so excited and so ready.  I put it off as long as possible, because I really didn't want to have to pay for 2 sets of braces at the same time, but I finally gave in and am now paying a small fortune every month for my oldest 2 to have beautiful teeth.

Five days later, on Oct. 10th, Kinlee got her cast off.  She was beyond thrilled to get it off and was so excited to be able to do cartwheels again.  Even though she was excited about cart wheels, she hasn't done one yet, she's too nervous!

Rory was gone most of the month hunting with his dad down at Lake Powell.  Derk drew a once in a lifetime desert big horn sheep hunt so they spent many days near lake Powell enjoying the beautiful weather and looking for sheep.  They finally got a really nice one at Peshliki and I've never seen 2 grown men so excited. 

We ended the month with trunk or treat, Halloween and Red Ribbon Week.  I didn't get many pictures of the kids during Red Ribbon week, it's hard with all of them going a million different directions.  I did get to plan the Halloween parties for Matthew and Kinlee's classes.  We had fun playing Frankenstein needs a brain, decorating cookies, and watching Toy Story of Terror.  There were a few other things we did and I think all the kids had a great time.  That same week Rory dressed up in his cop uniform and talked to Matthews class about being safe.  He read them a little story and answered questions about different ways to be safe. 

Connor has been going to open gym and tries out for the JV Basketball team next week! 

September

Happy Anniversary to us!  We celebrated our 15th anniversary with a weekend trip to  Salt Lake and Park City.  Rory spoiled me and bought me a new living room set, and Friday night we got to meet my good friend Heather and her husband Craig for dinner.  After dinner Rory and I went to a movie and pigged out on Coldstone ice cream.  Saturday we headed to Midway and checked into our hotel, the  Zermatt.  It is in an absolutely beautiful location and we had fun checking out the sights around Midway/Heber and doing a little shopping.  We then headed up to Park City and ate dinner at this amazing little cafe up the canyon.  After dinner we went to the Josh Turner concert at Deer Valley and froze our tooshies off!  It was such an amazing weekend and a much needed getaway with my sweetheart.

Kinlee continued soccer through the month and decided she doesn't really like it, but is glad she tried it.  She also participated in the Little Miss Dino pageant put on through the high school drill team and did amazing!  She sang "Little do You Know" and ended up taking 1st attendant! She loved it, but mostly because she got to hang out with Zac's girlfriend Riley, who is on the drill team.

Kadee is adjusting well to middle school and has joined the science club and FCCLA.  She is so excited to do science fair and has made some new friends.

Connor has been working on scouts and played a little baseball in September.  For his scout service project he collected food for a local organization called "Carbon Caring for Kids."  They make food packages for less fortunate kids to take home on the weekend to make sure they are getting enough to eat.  After he collected the food we went and put kits together for the weekly delivery.  It was a great service project and the kids are learning to love service.

Matthew is doing so well with his speech.  He loves Kindergarten and playing with his friends who live right next door to grandma Debbie.  He is starting to read and his teacher said she is super impressed with how well he does in math.  She said he listens well and has the best smile!

I had to post a picture of our spoiled little kitten. The kids adore him and he pretty much gets held and cuddled constantly. 

August

August was such a fun month! We were super busy cramming the last of summer in.  We started out the month with a trip to the living planet aquarium with the Rising Raptors (a summer camp at the the elementary school that Matthew and Kinlee did).  The next Sunday Rory blessed his cousin Brooke's baby at church.  He did an amazing job and Kinlee was ecstatic to have a baby to play with all through church.  We went to my first ever demolition derby.  It was the Carbon County Search and Rescue demolition derby and it was so awesome!  I wasn't sure how I would feel about it, but it was actually pretty exciting and a lot of fun.

For Kinlee's 7th birthday we surprised her with the sweetest little kitten that she named Archer Kitty-meow-meow Bradley Cactus.  She was so excited and it is the cutest thing, the kitten sleeps with her every night and although it's killing my allergies it's worth it because she is so happy.  Nana had her annual grandkid swim party at the Castle Dale pool on Kinlee's birthday, so that was a lot of fun.  The only downfall is the weather was bad, so we were stuck in the indoor pool the whole time.  The next day we had Kinlee's birthday party at the Helper Pool.  She had some of her friends come swim with her and we had cupcakes, push up ice creams, soda, and rock candy suckers.  That night we had chocolate chip pancakes (at her request) and homemade asphalt pie.

The weekend before school started we went up to Layton and stayed a couple days with Rory's cousin Shane and his family.  We went to Cherry Hill and the kids just loved hanging out with their cousins.  Monday we went to antelope island to watch the solar eclipse and it was astounding.  Not only did we get to watch the eclipse, but we got to check out a ranch out there and saw tons of bison and a fox.  The kids had never been to the great Salt Lake so it was fun to take them and to drive on the causeway.

The last full week in August school started.  The kids were excited to go back, but Kadee was so nervous to start middle school.  Needless to say, she has adapted well and now loves it.  She is already planning her science fair project and has made some new friends.  Exactly a week into school Kinlee was playing on the mushroom, a piece of playground equipment that is like monkey bars that spin in circles, and she fell off and broke her right arm in 2 places.  We took her right in and had x-rays and had it splinted and the doctor was able to squeeze her in to cast it the next day.  She is in a cast for the next 6 weeks and is learning how to do things with her left hand and has learned a valuable lesson about safety on the playground. :)

July

I know I say this every year, but summer has flown by!  I can't believe July is over and school starts back up in a couple weeks.

We were lucky enough to spend the 4th of July barbecuing with Rory's family and then watching the fireworks at his cousin Eric's house.  Their backyard faces the Fairgrounds so we get an awesome view of the fireworks every year without the crazy people and traffic.

Connor is officially a teenager!!  We spent his birthday doing his favorite thing in the world, camping up Ferron reservoir.  We tried to spoil him with delicious food, an outdoor movie, campfire stories, sleeping in hammocks, four wheeler rides, and time with cousins.  He is such a good kid and I can't believe he will be driving in 3 short years!  A week after the camping trip he had a friend birthday party in which they watched an outdoor movie in the backyard and played basketball.  I'm so proud of the young man he is turning into and can't wait to see what this life has in store for him.  

Kadee went to Idaho with Rory for a training, she had such a good time with her daddy, but ended up with Swimmer's Itch so they had to come home a day early.  She went swimming in a pond near the hotel and the doctor thinks that is where she picked it up.  Kadee also decided she was sick of her long hair and cut it off to her shoulders.  It is super cute on her and the poor thing has my thick, curly hair, so it's a lot more manageable short.  She also decorated her bike and rode it in the Wellington parade with her friends.  Rory and I were over the parade again this year, I think it turned out really good, and we got a ton of compliments on how organized it was.

Kinlee and Matthew did swim lessons.  Kinlee loved the diving board and now is a professional diver.  Okay, maybe not a pro, but she loves it and now wherever we go swimming we can't keep her off the diving boards.  Matthew is a little fish too, but is a little more timid in the water than my other kids.  He starts Kindergarten in a month so I have been trying to teach him how to tie his shoes, it has been a struggle but I think we are making progress. I took this pcture of him crashed out in my bed because he plays so hard all day, every day.  By the time we get him to lay down for 5 seconds he is out, luckily he is still little enough to carry to his bed.   

Kinlee & Edith at the Clark Reunion

June

June has been nothing but a blur of baseball.   Connor made the Carbon All-Star 12u team so we've spent our weeks practicing and our weekends playing baseball.  We started out the month with a tournament in Richfield and it was hot, hot, hot!  The boys made it to the championship game and ended up taking 2nd in the tournament.  They each got a ring for making it that far in the tournament.  We also had a tournament in Nephi.  I'd never been to Nephi before and it is a cute little town.  The team didn't do as well here and ended up finishing 4th. Finally we had the All-Star week long tournament.  It was a fun and exhausting week.  We played several games and didn't make it to the championship but I couldn't be more proud of the team and how hard they worked.  They never gave up, supported each other, and made some lasting friendships.

I can't forget to mention my other 3 munchkins.  They are such troopers, they go to every game with me and for the most part are so good while we are at the ball fields for hours on end.  I didn't get many pictures, but I love every minute sitting with those crazies watching my boy play ball.    

San Diego

We just got back from one of my favorite family vacations!  We spent the week in San Diego and it was absolutely fabulous!  Since I don't know where to begin, I'm going to break it down day by day so hopefully I don't forget anything.

Sunday, May 28- We arrived in Vegas early Sunday afternoon so we checked out the pool at the Lucky Dragon Hotel where we were staying and then walked down the Vegas Strip, we didn't make it very far down the strip, the kids were hot and starving so we found a McDonald's then went to the  Pawn Stars shop further on down the strip.  I was so excited to go there, but when we got there the security guard was super rude :(  I was going to buy a souvenir or something, but after the way he treated us I refused to buy anything. 

Monday, May 29- We arrived at our hotel on Mission bay early afternoon.  We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and playing in the sand.  That evening they had a little cruise boat that takes you for a ride across the bay.  It was really cold but the views were beautiful and the kids loved sitting on the lower deck.  Our room was a mini suite and it was really nice, the view on our balcony was beautiful and the kids loved eating breakfast on the balcony in the mornings. 

















Tuesday, May 30-  We started out the day by walking to Mission beach.  There are so many shops and a really nice board walk all along the beach.  We played in the sand for awhile, collected sea shells, and of course the kids thought the outside showers were awesome so we washed off in them.  We then went and visited the beautiful San Diego temple and then played on the beach at La Jolla.  The tide was perfect and the sea lions were beached on the rocks right next to us.  One fell in after a big wave pushed him off, so he swam right by us and watched us like we were crazy (which we probably are!).  Finally we spent the evening at Belmont Park.  We got ice cream and cotton candy, rode a few rides, played in the arcade, and Rory, Connor, Matthew, and Kinlee played laser tag.  Matthew and Kinlee ended up winning because they would just follow Rory and Connor around and shoot them over and over again. 

Wed, May 31- We had a fun morning at the Mormon Battalion, we learned a little about the history of San Diego and the war that was going on with Mexico at the time.  We then walked through Old Town San Diego and checked out the shops and old town stores.  We wanted to try and go to a Padres game, so we went to down town San Diego, but there was so much construction and it was so crazy we decided to not even attempt the baseball game, good thing we hadn't bought the tickets yet.  Since we didn't have anything to do we went and checked out Balboa Park.  We walked through the park, but all the museums were super expensive, so the kids had a blast riding the free tram from the park to the parking lot, haha.  That evening we went on a tandem bike ride along Mission bay.  It was so fun and so pretty!  At the end of the walkway there was a playground for the kids to play on and it was so fun to see the houses right on the beach. 

Thurs, June 1- We went to the famous Donut Bar in downtown San Diego (they even gave me a free donut for my birthday!) then spent the day at Sea World.  We loved Sea World.  Connor's very favorite thing was the fish that eat the dead skin off your hands, that's all he wanted to do all day.  Kadee and Kinlee loved the Atlantis ride, and Matthew could have spent all day in the Elmo play area.  Mine and Rory's favorite thing was the sea lion & otter show and of course the kids loved getting splashed by the dolphins and orca's in the splash zone. 

We ended the trip with a 2 day stay at Lorla's house in St. George.  We were super lazy and hung by her pool all day.  The kids were fish and practically lived in the pool the whole time we were there.  It was a nice visit and a wonderful way to end our vacation. 

May

May is always a fun and busy month.  This May was no different.  We started out the month with the baseball parade and opening day, the same day I took Kadee and Kloe to the Ivy Girl Academy in South Jordan. While they learned about self confidence, self-defense, make up tips, and more, Kinlee and I went shopping and visited grandma and grandpa Curtis.   

Connor received his first class badge in scouts, he is well on his way to becoming an eagle scout and will be going on a 50 mile hike this summer. He also hit 2 home runs this month and the most exciting thing is he made the 12u Cal Ripken all-star team.  He loves baseball and is thrilled to get to play ball for the summer. 

Kadee had the pirate treasure hunt at the middle school,  it's a fun little activity they do to welcome in the kids that will be starting there in the fall.  They give them a treasure map of the school and the kids go around and get treasures while becoming familiar with the school.  She also had the 5th grade field trip to the bees game, Rory and I got to go with her and it was hot but so fun.  This girl works so hard in school and in life and had her DARE graduation and 5th grade send off.  I can't believe how fast time flies.  The teachers made a slide show of the 5th graders as babies and now and I got a little teary eyed.  I can't believe I'm going to have 2 kids in middle school.  She is super nervous to leave elementary school but is excited for some of her classes next year.  Kadee also passed the torch to the new historian and received an award for her reflections entry as well as several gift certificates for her attendance and effort she made on the SAGE test.   

Matthew graduated from preschool and had an end of year party at the wave pool.  He was so cute at his graduation and totally rocked Tooty Ta (his favorite preschool song of all time).  He loves baseball and did a really good job in coach pitch this year.  He is still a little afraid of the ball, so Connor has been working with him on catching the ball.  He is still doing Upstart (the online preschool) and will continue doing that until July, then he will be set and ready to go to Kindergarten.  He is such a little spit fire but loves life and always has a smile on his face.   

Kinlee and Kadee had their dance recital, welcome to my crazy circus.  It was such a fun show and the girls totally rocked it!  I was so proud of my little dancers, they smiled and did so well on all of their dances.  Kadee had 4 different dances that she performed and Kinlee had 3.  I love watching my kids develop their talents.  Kadee missed dance pictures because of the Hogle zoo field trip, but Kinlee went to hers and they turned out so cute! My favorite was a picture I took of her and Kaydree popping out of the popcorn box, little cuties!