Ellie's 4th Birthday

Ellie turned 4 yesterday and we had a family party for her on Saturday. She was so excited for her birthday and her party that she could hardly wait. We took her to a birthday breakfast on Saturday morning. She thought that was pretty cool.

We got her this car seat for her dolls and also a stroller to match. She is also into art stuff so we got her a small easel with a chalkboard and paints. She got more paint stuff from Jim and Brandi too. She received quite a few new clothes, which she needed. She also got some fingernail stuff in a cute purse from my aunt Janet and some Barbie clothes for her Barbies.

Here she is with her fake fingernails on. She only kept them on about 5 minutes but she looked awfully cute in them. However, a bit too grown-up for me.

Ellie is a joy to have in our family. She pretty much rules the household, being the only girl and all. She loves to go to preschool, and color and draw. She knows how to write her name and loves to read books and make up the story. She loves pancakes for breakfast, mac n' cheese for lunch, and spaghetti for dinner. She loves her tumbling class and having play dates with her friends. She can entertain herself by playing with her dolls and kitchen set. She says she wants to be a mom and a teacher when she grows up. She loves her big brothers and loves to be with them. However, she is always the boss.

Tyler's Valentine Dance

Tyler's school had a Valentine's dance. He wasn't too excited about it but he did look pretty sharp. He got a new shirt and tie to wear. The teachers have been teaching them how to do several different kinds of dances. I wasn't able to go because I had to work, but I got another mom to take pictures for me. Thanks Johanna!

This was the only dance that he actually had to hold a girl's hand. It's the Virginia Reel. He actually showed me how to do this dance a few days before the dance. I told him he was lucky because at my school we do dances too, but we have slow dances. They also have to fill out a dance card. He was glad that he goes to Farr West instead of my school.

YMCA

Overall, I think he had a good time. I can't believe that he will be in 7th grade soon. Boy does time fly! Before long he will be going to dances in high school. Now that is scary.

Wrestling (not over yet)

Tyler and Brayden have been wrestling since the fall up at Weber High. They have loved it and have done great!! It took up pretty much every night of the week for practice and every weekend for tournaments. But it was worth it. The boys got in great shape, had fun, and made some new friends. We decided to do it at Weber because the high school coach lives in our neighborhood and we wanted to support him. The coaches were great! The boys learned a lot and had a great season. I didn't take a lot of pictures through the season but I did video pretty much every match. Bryce liked to watch them afterwards so that he could critique them and show them how to improve. The pictures below are of Tyler at the state competition at Roy High. He took 6th place overall. He had a couple of heartbreaker matches against a kid he goes to school with. He really wanted to beat him. I did get pictures of him on the winners podium but they got deleted. :( So here are a few of one of his matches.

This is Brayden in a match at Super State. This was held at the Maverik Center in SLC. It was a fun tournament. Neither of the boys placed, but it was fun to be there in that big arena. The boys are still practicing a couple of nights a week and probably won't be doing many tournaments because of baseball getting started. That doesn't hurt my feelings too much!

Hawaii--Part 2

Hawaii is paradise! The views and the scenery are amazing. I took some pictures as we drove around the island of all the beautiful things.

This is the 'Tunnel of Trees' road

This is one type of trees that I loved. It looked like some type of pine tree.

I'm not sure what type of tree these are, but they are so cool looking.

There are different birds everywhere in Hawaii.

Especially roosters- all over the place.

The flowers are to die for. Bryce took these two shots.

Waimea Canyon is kind of like Hawaii's Grand Canyon. It is about 13 miles up a winding road but it is so awesome to see.

The boys enjoyed running from the huge waves on this beach.

This is called 'Spouting Horn' on the south side of the island.

We were able to see some huge whales on Poipu Beach.

Bryce got some great pics.

When Bryce and I went to Hawaii 3 years ago, we went kayaking down the Wailua River and then hiking to a waterfall. We decided to take the boys on the same excursion.

We rented 2 ocean kayaks and I went with Tyler and Bryce and Brayden went together. It was a bit harder than I remember, but last time I had Bryce in my kayak.

This is a river we had to cross. It had been raining a lot on the island and the hike was quite muddy. I was pretty proud of myself for being so adventurous, because that is very unlike me.

This was a small waterfall on the hike. Pretty awesome huh?

The boys found some great hiking sticks along the way.

This is the waterfall that we hiked to. Bryce was brave enough to swim in it. Tyler didn't want to at first because it was pretty cold, but he eventually got in.

There was also a swimming hole with a rope swing along the river and the boys enjoyed that.

I just took the pics. The picture above is Tyler and Bryce below.

This is Brayden. He didn't let go but had fun swinging!

On the way back we decided to tie the kayaks together and tow the boys behind us. It worked pretty well.

I can't remember the name of these falls but they are awesome. On our last trip Bryce and his brother hiked to the top of them and looked over the edge. SCARY!! It is a long way down.

On the last day of our trip, we decided to take a sunset whale watching boat ride. We saw a few whales jumping, but they weren't real active. Bryce tends to get sea sick but we got him pills to take before hand and he did okay.

Here the boys are in the front of the boat where it was very bumpy but it didn't seem to bother them.

And last but not least--an amazing Hawaiian sunset!