Massive back log...

Is there anyway to catch up on months of missing blog posts....Not really...not easily...But there have been good memories and it would be a shame to miss them all...So this is the picture book version...and sorry for the typos/spelling errors...with my mad computer skills I cannot get the spell checker on for some reason....

November

Amy and Brent spent a long weekend in San Diego for work and pleasure. Brent went to a trade show and Amy slept, walked on the beach, read, hot tubbed, and ate lots of good food. We both visited the USS Midway one day. Good times.

Amy spent a girls night out and next day with her mom and sisters at Time out for Women. The music was amazing!

This is how Creed gets ready for church...and does his own hair...And is super duper cute...

This is how we spend Saturdays without soccer games...hiking around the area.

Parents Day at dance class. She is such a cute dancing girl.

Parents Day at Dancy class for Taryn. Back row girl...They work SERIOUSLY hard.

Playing at the park and perfecting American Ninja Warrior Skills and having a family soccer game. Yes they wanted to wear shorts in November....I was wearing a sweat shirt...

They are just good buddies and play constantly with each other...usually outside...usually getting into some form of mischief....

Sometimes this is how Creed dresses himself too....Hat, soccer clothes, ties, and medals...

Thanksgiving at my mom's with all the cousins who were in town. Everyone loves grandma!

Cami played in a soccer tournament over the Thanksgiving Holiday. Her team won first place despite it being freezing cold and games being at 8 am both days...It was SERIOUSLY cold!

October

Everyday after school this is how they greet each other. It is the best feeling in the world to know your kids like each other.

Loose tooth #2 about to make an exit...And she is so excited about it.

Cami two seconds before scoring a goal. Too bad my camera has huge lag time or this would have been taken in time to take another one of the goal itself. Oh well....

When it rains in the desert you have to go outside and dance in it...

Jocelyn on the playing field (girl with the bun). She was super fun to watch this season and the girls all improved a ton. They are starting to get the idea of passing.

Taryn turned 10 and had a crazy faced photo booth.....and just a crazy party. Who knew 9 and 10 year old girls could be so lively?

So remember that one time when it was totally like 99 degrees outside and Jocelyn insisted on wearing her "fashion" hat to dinner at Denny's? She did look pretty great...

Every October there is UEA (aka deer hunt holilday...) We spent it hiking new trails and finding an old kiln in the middle of now where. Pretty cool!

I love love love Jocelyn's hair. She has the perfect princess leah buns and she is really open to letting me do her hair however I feel like doing it. It is a match made in heaven.

The children's museam is always a good place to work off energy and spend a few good hours of playtime. Jocelyn is a fan of the frozen winter room.

And there goes the tooth! (the second one). She had me give it a good wiggle like the first one and then she wanted to do the honors of the final yank. She a seriously a tough girl and I love her for that.

A lose tooth....

Jocelyn won her schools Reflections contest by taking a picture of the blood moon with my phone and turning it in as a photography entry...

For her birthday she chose to go on a mommy daddy faye date instead of having a party. Sweet all round for everyone. She chose to go to her favorite restraunt (Freddy's) and then buy new sparkly church shoes and then go to Fiesta Family Fun Center. It was such a super fun night with her.

Her birthday breakfast-an olaf pancake on the special plate...Notice Taryn is not quite up for morning pictures....or maybe just morning in general....

And because I am a super nice mom I took her to the dentist on her birthday....Luckily no cavities!

This is my pinterest fail worthy cake...She wanted Elsa's ice castle...I think we can all agree cake decorating is not were my mad skills are...but she was happy...

Brent took the girls to a halloween party. Meet Katniss Everdeen, Pita Milark, and Effy...Actually pretty perfectly type cast....

Her birthday breakfast date with Brent when he got back in town....

Halloween...Creed was going to be a cow and Jocelyn a cowgirl but at the last minute he changed his mind because "firefighters are way better because they are cool."

Preschool trunk or treat...

Cowgirl who actually rode her stick unicorn in the school parade and I laughed and loved every minute of it!

Hermoine Granger and yes she has all the answers. Her good buddy was Ginny Weasley and her cousin that came into town was also Hermoine...

Us at the Halloween hot dog neighborhood party. I love our neighborhood because of cool people and cool traditions. And it was fun to share this with the cousins.

Cami after scoring. She is number 1-actually she is jersey number 4 but she will always be #1 to me.

September

So Creed played his first season of soccer and it was NOT his favorite. I coached his team and it was SUPER not how I expected...Anyway after the first two or three games he decided to join us on the field...after being bribed with a doughnut....

Jocelyn in the frey....She is number 4.

The best part of soccer to Creed is the gateraide...

Just because I love a good Nacho Libre pose....and he likes to wear Brents shoes sometimes....

Story time at the library during rodeo season....They read cowboy books and Jocelyn even got to dress up...pretty cool!

Taryn reading to Creed and Creed eating his own toe nails....

The rodeo parade. The kids love this one because they get so so so much free candy...

Jocelyn sleeping on her pillow...since ths doesn't ever happen it had to be documented. She is the craziest sleeper and rarely has covers on...or is laying the "right" direction on her bed...

Brent took Cami on a daddy daughter trip to Salt Lake City Comic Con....She won tickets to the event for reading so many books at the library over the summer. Brent got huge good dad points by actually doing a Katniss braid for her. This was his second attempt and it was definitely worth the picture.

And Cami's favorite was probably her studio c peeps...

They stayed at Papa's in Heber and went hiking one day.

Jocelyn's blood moon picture...

August 

Swimming swimming and more swimming....

And sometimes it is ok to wear a soccer jersey under a haiwiian dress simply because its white and it matches....

The science area at the children's museum makes really big bubbles...

and it has an awesome castle area too...

And it was fun to play American Ninja Warriors with the cousins and watch every available episode...

Sometimes I can't convince Creed to leave trash cans alone....especially in Lowes when they are so fun to push around....Its like heaven to this three year old boy...

Creed got his own hammer (Daddy couldn't help himself) and they built a boat together...but seriously watch out because Creed hits HARD!

Brent is now officially a middle aged man...the big 40! I hope the next 40 are just as good as the first. Although he is not sure about being 40....

back to school 2015-2016

All four kids are in school this fall and it is really bitter sweet. It is great to think about having two hours a week that belong to me and only me....I signed up to take yoga classes again. But the thought of not having a side kick with me is really sad. I honestly like my kids and I honestly like having them around. I also knew that it would be so hard on Creed to be away from me but I really felt like he needed to learn that he was safe and loved even if he was away from me for a while and that I would always come back. 

So Cami was starting 6th grade at intermediate school. She was nervous and excited and ready for it. She gets to ride the bus for the first time ever and can't decide if this is awesome or not. 

Taryn is starting 4th grade. She is on the student lighthouse team (like student council) and has a surprise teacher. Her school assigns teachers the last day of school of one year for the following year. Her assigned teacher that she was psyched to have moved to another school and she ended up with a surprise teacher. So far so good. 

Jocelyn started kindergarten and has the most compassionate teacher ever. Jocelyn is smart (learning isn't her challenge in life)  but can be really nervous/shy around new people (more challenging). Her teacher is perfect for her personality and we feel SO lucky to have her. 

Creed is also lucky to have a compassionate loving kind teacher. He is going to the same preschool the girls went to and I couldn't pick someone better to help me help Creed get over his separation anxiety issues. I spent the first day there with him and worked my way out as Miss Megan worked her way in. The turning point for Creed was when he heard the garbage truck at recess one day and got excited. Miss Megan had the instinct to take the whole class out to watch the garbage man go up and down the whole street. She had Creed's heart from that moment on. The next day of school we pulled up and he told me to stay in the car he was going in by himself.... She knew the way to his heart was through the garbage man. So all the kids are back to school and happily engaged in learning and growing.

Jocelyn on her first big day...She is so stinkin' cute!

Pretty sure those little freckles are among the cutes things I've ever made.

Creed's first big day...Good thing she had some big diggers.

Taryn's big first day....sweet and sassy as always...

Cami getting ready to walk to the bus stop. She has to leave stinking early-like just before 7. Good thing she has several neighbor kids to walk with.

The first lost tooth and fairy dust...

Jocelyn is such an awesome kid. She is usually very tough so I am not sure why I was so surprised at her chill attitude about getting her teeth pulled out. Her teeth came in really early as a baby....or at least way earlier than her sisters. (six moths as opposed to 9 and 10 months)...So I wasn't really surprised when she came to me in August with a lose tooth (almost a year earlier than either sister). After a few good days of dedicated wiggling she came to me and said, "Mom will you pull out my tooth." I said, "sure" thinking I would give it a tug and she would cry and never let me touch her mouth again (as her sisters did). She went and got a Kleenex and climbed up on my lap. I counted to three and gave a little tug and that tooth just popped right out....No tears, no drama...just "Owe, that hurt more than I thought it would" with a shoulder shrug and she took off to go write her tooth fairy letter. She asked the tooth fairy to leave some fairy dust for her so she could fly...The tooth fairy only could leave a small sprinkle because she didn't have extras, she still had to fly back to fairyland. It just wasn't quite enough for Jocelyn to get airborne.

A lose tooth

A really lose tooth

What do you know?! It came right out and no one is crying! Awesome

Swimming....

No summer is ever complete without copious amounts of swim time...especially swimming lessons with Ms. Kristen. I almost didn't put Cami and Taryn in lessons because honestly they are pretty good swimmers. But I just think being in a pool is good exercise and makes them stronger swimmers.
Plus what other better thing is there to do when it is so stinking hot? Jocelyn is a fish, totally in her element in the water. She always has been and she is super amazing to watch.  Creed was not a fan at first...or for a while...and while I do sympathize with his discomfort, swimming is a life skill that I am unwilling for him not to learn...By the end of the first two weeks he tolerated it ok and by the end of the summer he was a fan. Other than Cami's accidental slicing open her knee on the side of the pool and having to get stitches incident the summer was a total success. 

Creed begging to get out...

Creed discovered swimming is awesome....thanks to ms Kristen...

4th of July in Pine Valley

Finally pictures!!! YEA! I don't know why I could find these pictures but not other ones from the summer....Every year on the 4th we have a scavenger hunt breakfast. All the cousins who are  around help us with finding clues and complete challenges until we find our breakfast feast. Later we go to our uncle's cabin in pine valley for family time and games. It is so fun to get reacquainted with my cousins we may not have seen all year. The kids all had fun and came home tired (creed fell asleep on the way home and didn't even wake up for the fireworks that were soooo loud). 

Breakfast scavenger hunt

Jocelyn and Creed at the money grab....they dig through wood pellets looking for coins. 

There was a selfie photo booth with fun patriotic props...

Creed clearly snitched his fair share of treats and was not successful at hiding the evidence.

The littles discovered how fun and crazy trampolines are.

Jocelyn and Creed pretended to be in a watermelon eating contest...Really they discovered that a few bites is enough...

Quick trip for work and pleasure...

Before school started Brent had some testing he needed to do for work up at the University of Utah (I almost feel like a traitor admitting that he has been working up there a lot this past year...I am so cougar, through and through). Anyway, the kids and I thought this would be the perfect time to go hang out with the cousins for a few days.  We spent the first day up there in Ogden at "the ninja warrior park"(not really a ninja warrior park but it has a zip line and cool objects). The kids have been really into watching American Ninja Warriors and they spent hours reenacting cool moves. We had a picnic lunch and on the way home stopped at this cool mix your own soda drink shop. The day was super fun but the traffic back through salt lake was crazy and we got back late and slept well. The next day we went to the Bean Museum at BYU. The huge grizzly inside the door awesomely scared everyone and Jocelyn was enamored with all the buffalo (bison). Creed was not a fan of the jumping lion thing or the polar bear....Of course since we were next door to the Creamery we had to stop for ice cream. That afternoon we headed up to Liberty park for a picnic. The older kids took a paddle boat around the "lake" (big pond) while Creed and I rode the Farris wheel and other kiddie rides. After a while the cousins met us and we went to Trace Aviary which was really cool. We could have spent way more time there but we wanted to avoid traffic. Friday Brent took the day off and came with us to the zoo. Creed wanted to see monkeys. We spent all day there and in the evening we hit the sugar house farmer's market and got snow cone action. We also saw the minion movie at a redone theater with the best reclining leather lazy boys ever. Creed even let me watch most of it so it was awesome. Saturday we drove up to Stansbury Park and went to our other cousin's baptism. We hadn't been to their house since they were building it before any of these cousins were even born. It was really fun to see. We had another great picnic lunch and took the long way home. It was an awesome drive. Sunday we went to church with Brent's sister and booked it back home. It was a really packed trip...packed with good times and memory making. We are so lucky to be a family and have the extended family we do....Yet again not sure where the pictures went....

Adventures in Pine Valley....just for fun...

One day last July we were sick of being cooped up thanks to the heat. We couldn't all go swimming or anything because of Cami's stitches so our choices seemed more limited. I decided to make a great escape to the mountains for an adventure. We stopped at Jimmy John's on the way to get picnic sandwiches because most great adventures involve a Jimmy John's sandwich picnic and we drove about 45 minutes away to Pine Valley Mountain. 

We used to go camping here a lot until it got discovered and a lot of people decided to vacation here. But thanks to the increased traffic there were some new trails that we had never been on. 

We chowed down and took off down a trail. The kids all found good walking sticks and actually hiked pretty well despite injury (Cami's knee). When they got tired they all waded in the stream. After a few minutes it started "raining" as in barely sprinkling but the kids freaked out and hustled back. 

On the way home we took a side road to a place called grass valley....It really was just a big grassy valley but it was super pretty and smelled great in the rain. Creed LOVED all the cows along the road and in the valley. And I love these kids!

Harry Potter Party

For some reason I can't find the pictures of this epic party but it was such a good memory that I don't want to forget it. The Ferguson cousins were in town for swimming lessons and we decided since all the older ones had read and reread Harry Potter it was party worthy. We made shirts with an animal patronis chosen by each kiddo. Their choices were really telling. Cami chose a Jaguar, Taryn an Eagle, Jocelyn chose a cougar, and Creed chose a milk cow. In all fairness Jocelyn couldn't decide if she wanted a cougar, a lady bug, or a rolley polley bug.....On the back Aunt Rebekah drew on a personalized wand for each kid with lightening bolt letters saying expecto patronum...We also made butter bear, licorice wands, and all kinds of delicious treats. We wall "watched" the first Harry Potter but at some point all parents, aunts, uncles, grandma etc fell asleep and the kids swiped a phone and took hilarious pictures of us sleeping through the movie. Anyway, it was a super fun anchor memory.