Jake is 8

Jake is 8! Good morning sunshine!  Breakfast of crepes for the old boy today. :)

 Sam is not sure he's ready to wake up sing and tell him all the nice things we can while he eats.

Jake had a BYU sports party and all the kids did challenges of physical coordination and strength.. We started with a push-up contest.  Jake won without the cheaters.  61 real push-ups!

Timed races around the house.. there are some quick kids that Jake is friends with!

 Pictures of the spread.....

 Jacob is a true blue Cougar fan if I've ever met one... maybe only rivaled by his father.

 Hand outs were cougar mugs... on clearance at the bookstore -- SaWeet!

 Jake's friend Ethan has a very talented mom and she so nicely volunteered to help by making some "Y" cake pops.. How awesome is that!

 We love presents at our house.. And Jake scored with all the fun things he got.  How lucky to have a fun party and end up with awesome gifts too. 

 It's always so fun to make cakes for my boys... I have to thank my mom for starting that tradition!  She always made our birthdays so much fun.  I'm glad we set the rule that only themed parties until 8 years old though... I am running out of creative ideas here!!  the poor younger kids for sure!

 Happy Birthday to the sweetest 8 year old I know.  Jake you have always been a huge pride point for your mom and dad.  It's not good to be so prideful, but when you have a kid that is just sweet and smart and sensitive and tries his hardest always... It's impossible not to have PRIDE in him.  We sure love you and love watching you become such a great person!

School plays and recitals..

It's that time of year... Luke had his first grade play.. and boy was it cute. Munchkin Mediation was about how Dorothy taught all the kids to be nice...

 Luke was the Wizard and had a good speaking part.

 It was a pretty hip play for First Graders.

 The Wizard hat was the best part of the play for Luke.  He even had a wand to use thanks to the harry potter party he attended in the fall.

 Grandma Heaton is so good to come to all the things she can, even though we live 3+ hours away.  Thanks mom for supporting us.  He was super excited to have you there!

 And... it's Lets Play Music recital time... This is the BEST program ever.  We love it.  It teaches the kids all sorts of music techniques and gets them use to harmony and reading notes.  All with just fun songs and games.  It's expensive, but it's a great pre-cursor to piano.  Can't wait to start the classes with Sam and Nate.

 Another picture of NOT SMILING Luke.  However, he really doesn't like LPM, so I can't blame him.  I think it's great, but now that Porter isn't in his class he doesn't like going so much.

The whole gang of classmates.  Nice face Luke.

Spring break in Sunny St. George

We love hiking on the red hill when we go to visit Grandma.. The best is that she loves it too and takes all the kids whenever they want.  It's fun to find cool caves and explore up there.

 Of course any chance to make it to Anti-gravity, we try to go.  We love bouncing and getting all the energy out and away from Grandma's house!

 It's awesome to have Nadauld Grandparents too in St. George now.  We get to play with them and have fun in their pools.. It's freezing cold in the outside pool still, but the boys dared each other to jump in and really -- it can't be colder than the hobble creek river, so they think it's no big deal!

I just wanted a to take a picture of this fun gift Nina gave me for Christmas.  It's a measuring board for the kids and I LOVE it.  How fun to have them all marked down.  My mom does this in her house and this is just a cute way to display it.  I think I may have to get the grandmas one of these!!

Ew, what's wrong with your head?

 Poor Taylor... he's had cellulitis 7 times in 2 years.  That's a lot of infections.  the doctor thinks he maybe got a spider bite here that turned into the infection, none the less... the poor guy has been battling this for a LONG TIME!  I thought we should get at least one picture to document his wounds.  He's had them on his arm and leg and face and nose, and in other non-mentionable places.  It's been miserable getting the staff infection completely out of his body, but I think we finally have a handle on it!

 It'a always good to have a few blackmail photos right?  how cute are they in their towels like dad does after a shower.  Ahh nothing better than fresh boys. :)

Look mom, I'm a cowboy!

The best thing about having brothers own a cattle ranch is that some times my boys get to ride horses.  You'd never believe I grew up with horses... I'm a little scared of them to be truthful.

 My brother bought a extend cab atv (ranger) and so we kept it here for a few weeks until he could come pick it up.  Side Note:  Taylor was VERY glad to do this favor for my brother.  I thought in the end we might have a $7500 great deal toy of our own... but we escaped that expense and just used my brother's for a little bit.  Anyway -- he decided to come up to Spanish Fork for a sorting, and picked up the ranger at the same time.

 My boys thought it was awesome to have him drive the huge horse trailer into our neighborhood.  He had to unload the horses before he could load the ranger and totally entertained my boys.

 Then, since Taylor was out of town, we enjoyed a little "sorting" which is kind of like a rodeo except it's just one event - sorting the cows.  It's pretty entertaining if you ever get the chance to see one. Really... it's fast paced and close up.  It was fun.

 Nate wasn't so sure about Uncle Gavin or the Horse... we weren't sure which one, probably both!

The other boys, however, kept fighting for turns riding the horse around the arena while Gavin was waiting for his turn!!  Thanks for the fun Uncle G.!

Sports and such..

 So, we had a great basketball season this year! The weather has been SOOO mild that Jake plays for hours outside and I have to make him come in for dinner.  I am loving this winter... so nice to have some warm weather and not so much snow.  I know the ski resorts are hoping for some storms here soon, but for me and my preferences.. keep the sun shine'in!

 Jake is so competitive and has had a fun time actually playing games.

 They won all their games this year... he has a couple really good kids on his team, and he's a great hussler and gets the ball a lot.

 It's a little like herding cattle, but they are at least learning the rules and how to dribble a little. 

 Below are some shots from Luke's games.  His was just kind of instructional this year, but they get to scrimmage a little at the end of the practices.  Not as much fun for the kids, but they LOVE the scrimmage in the end.

 There's a picture of Luke and Porter... it's fun to have them play sports together.  I don't know how long either of them will last... neither have a high propensity of liking competition... but it's fun for now!

 Nice shot Po!

And of course, I helped with Jump Club again this year.  I am for sure done with that though.... Such a pain, and NOT that cool.  It's fun for something to do, but now that they are into basketball, I think I'll just do that each year for exercise.  Anyway-- the kids are cute and I took a few pictures of their "Jump Spectacular" performance.

 It's fun to help out whenever I can... I just love being with my boys.  I hope I can always be apart of all they do.  I know as they get older it will be harder, so I'm taking advantage while I can!