Track and Field day

The school year is coming to an end. This means that it is time for track and field day. I will say that this is not my favorite day of the year, but the kiddos really seemed to like it. I got to walk around for two hours (two days in a row) snapping pictures...you would think that I would have been in heaven. As stated in an earlier post, moving is not a top ten thing on Ry's list. I was proud of him though. He did not quit..I even offered to bring him home early. Hey, it was freezing that day. He refused. Good Ryan.
Ry was most excited for the jump rope event. Look, both feet are off the ground!
Emily's track and field day had better weather. She had a lot of fun. It was great to see her with her friends running around.

She did a lot of jumping. She is proud to report 50 jumps in 30 seconds
She jumps some more.

Fiona is home

Here is our wonderful Fiona cousin. She is home and we got to go visit her today. She slept most of our visit.

Here are the Minnesota cousins. We are very excited that Nico and Leo will be here to visit this summer. Then all six of them will be together.

We think that Fiona is pretty amazing. We didn't want to leave her. She is so fun to hold and watch. Her facial expressions are so cute...even in her sleep.

They were listening

Yesterday was Ryan's Track and Field day at school. Erik has been working on his car, so we were down to one car. After track and field day, I thought it would be fun to walk the mile+ home from school. Ryan is not a big mover. He had just moved a bunch at school and he was about to go to OT, work hard there...then 2 hours of swimming. He started getting tired about 3/4 of the way home. I then thought of a talk given at church last Sunday. The speaker told of his experience mountain biking and when he thought he could not go any further he made little goals along the way. I decided to try that. I said, "I bet we can make it to the white mailbox." We would and then we would choose another smaller goal. Needless to say we made it home and contrary to popular belief no one died in the process. At dinner that night, I told Ry to tell dad how we got home with little goals. Then Emily pipes in and says that was just like the mountain biking story at church. Together Ryan and Emily remembered every detail of that story. I was so surprised that they heard that talk. During Sacrament meeting on any given Sunday the kiddos are constantly wanting drinks, reading the Friend, eating, coloring etc. Basically, it looks like anything but listening. Hooray! They were listening and remembering. Don't ask us what the overall talk was about..but we heard the mountain bike story and applied it to our lives : )

Why here..part 2 the path

When we were looking at this house one thing that caught our eye was the backyard. Not only the backyard, but the great walking path. This path has been a great place for kiddos to ride their scooters, Rollerblades, bikes or trucks. Whatever their little hearts can find. It is a happy day in early Spring when the path is clear. I can officially send people out to the path to play. Boy have they played. They have spent hours riding up and down that path trying to get faster and faster. It seems on any given day that I am outnumbered by kiddos. One day I decided to take the camera and try to catch some of the fun. On this day we had neighbor Sam and neighbor Erin over. They also live along the path. We also had Jade, Adriana and Alexis over. Marcy came out with Trent too.

Here are the boys Ryan and Sam.

Adriana gets going fast down the hill

Andrew is off to catch some bad guys or get the Jedi with his sword

Looks like Erin is going to get away. Andrew is not going to give up though.

Emily and Alexis decide to stop and make a wish..yes there are plenty of wishes to be had back here.

We were having such a fun time that we decided to cross the street and hit the park. I know I have already shown park pictures, but here are a few more. I haven't been able to scrapbook in about 9 years...so this is it for us.

The girls..Erin, Jade, Emily and Adriana
The boys Sam and Ryan
Here are Lexi and Andrew. By now Andrew had about an inch of dirt all over his face, clothes, feet and a bloody nose..so I am keeping the picture zoomed out.

Fiona Elizabeth

Guess what! I am a new aunt! Ben and Louise had their baby May 24th (early this morning). She is such a good girl and made a slightly early appearance. She is 7 pounds 10 ounces. I think she is beautiful. I am so excited to meet her! After a LONG labor, Fiona was born. Shortly afterward, the doctors found her white blood cell count to be high. This means she gets to spend a few days in ICU. Visitors are limited, so we get to go tomorrow. She will be greeted and loved by her cousins either Monday or Tuesday. My parents got to go today and took these cute pictures. Of course there will be more pictures soon.

Trampoline

The weather is amazing right now. We are taking full advantage of the outdoors before all the bugs show up. One very popular activity is the trampoline. Here are today's jumpers. You recognize Miss Emily. Today we had friend Jade over. Jade is in Emily's class. They have become good friends this year.

They are ready to put on a show..

Emily warms up..Andrew waits for his turn

Now Jade is warming up...both are getting good height.

Here is some good old fun. Emily is doing a Ninja move in the air. This went on for a long time.

Now some cart wheels over each other.

Andrew comes back to join the fun. I really love this picture!

And he steals the show.

I have to say that I really like having a trampoline. We have only had one accident involving stitches which really could have happened anywhere. Jumping on the trampoline is something that I like doing with the kiddos and it is good exercise. Hooray for trampolines!

Jackson Street Roundhouse

I got to go to the Jackson Street Roundhouse with Andrew's preschool class. They had a "come board with Jesus" theme that ended at the roundhouse. As you can see, I like to have my kiddo standout in a crowd. I looked and looked for that preschool shirt and obviously did not find it. You know it is going to be found today in some laundry pile! (yes I have many) Anyway, we got to go inside train cars and even have a caboose ride.
Here is Andrew and his friend enjoying a train engine made to play on. The kiddos really liked this field trip and so did the adults. It was a 100+ old roundhouse that has turned into a train museum right in St. Paul. It was funny to hear all the adults say that they never knew that it was there and how we all want to go back soon.
We each got to bring a bag lunch eat it in a dining car. For some reason every time I tried to take a picture of Andrew during lunch he started a chicken dance thing. He did have nice chicken form though..
But I got him when he wasn't looking!
While we were waiting to get back on the buses, they got to play with a bunch of train tables. It was great. To think I almost skipped this trip to sit and watch Little House reruns. Now that would have been a mistake!

Weekend cabin trip

I am going to warn you all that this is a longer slideshow. All I can say is I got slightly carried away with the picture taking. We were able to go to the cabin with the Littles. It was a great trip with a campfire, tree climbing, lake exploration and canoing fun. It was great to spend time at the cabin with friends and we look forward to many more trips this summer. I have to go to sleep...so tired. I'll write more in the am.

Tennis starts again!

We got up nice and early this morning and Em and Ry hit the tennis clinic. I was excited because I got a new camera and wanted to take some pictures. I have a lot to learn about taking pictures with this camera, but at least this is a start. This will be their 2nd year of tennis. Emily was already signed up for a team. Now, Ry has decided that he wants to give it another year too. They did a great job this morning.

King of Kong

Ok.........I got to see the King of Kong documentary. I was reading about it on Amy's blog and thought, "oh I should watch that." The next day Robert and Tiffany started talking about this same movie. We went over to their house. Game night turned into movie night. It is hilarious. I have to say I enjoy a good Donkey Kong game, but I think that I could be a contender for Demon Attack world champion title. If you don't believe me I will send you the tape of my high score. I hit the million mark on that game.........or was it 3 million? (Thanks Amy for the image. I took it from your blog.)

Tagged!

I love the whole tagging thing on the blogs. Actually, I love the whole blog idea in general. I love peeking into my friends lives and seeing what they are up to. I also love having people see what we are doing around here. I am sorry I have not been very good at being tagged by people but today is the day!

I have been tagged by Stacey so hear it goes ; )

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 years ago
1. Big fat and pregnant...My personal theory was pregnancy=free ticket to eat anything anytime.
2. Teaching at Sunset View Elementary School
3. Living at and loving Wyview

5 Things on your to do list
1. laundry..has to be top, but for sure won't get to
2. Find a book for book club so my hands can stop sweating
3. Get an oil change and kill dandelions in my yard..things I wish Erik would do because I don't want to
4. Go to Let's Dish..so I don't have to think about dinner for a while
5. Go to movies with friends when I should probably be doing one of the top 4 on the list.

5 snacks I enjoy
1. Chocolate Hershey Kisses..I can't eat one though has to be at least 2 at a time
2. I'm a pretzel girl
3. Hot chocolate..not really a snack but I drink it all the time.
4. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies from Great Harvest...add "go to Great Harvest" on my to do list.
5. Cookie dough, brownie dough, cake batter..now do you know why I like to bake?

What would I do if I were suddenly make a billionaire?
Well, after I wet my pants and change clothes, I would want to finish all my projects on home..including my great add on project that Erik only rolls his eyes at when I mention it. Pay off home. Secretly pay off friends homes and then pay someone to kill off my dandelions.

5 places I have lived.
1. Apple Valley, Mn
2. Eagan, MN
3. Provo, Utah
4. Moscow, Russia (six months, but I was living so it counts right?)
5. Edina, MN

5 Jobs I have had
1. MOM
2. YMCA kids stuff
3. Paper Carrier
4. Special Ed room at Sunset View El.
5. Sr. MTC cafeteria

3 favorite books (why is this one so hard? These are 3 that come to mind..there are tons that I have loved reading!)
1. Hiding Place...(I try to revisit it at least once a year)
2. Papa Married a Mormon. (I want to read that one again..it has been along time)
3. Fine Old High Priests...so cute.

I tag
Amy, Aryn and I am going to say Cynthia-hey it can be your first post on your blog that I want you to start.

Why here?

I thought it would be fun to every now and then have a blog about why I live here in good old Apple Valley. Its main purpose might be for ME to read during those February and March months when I continually ask myself, "why I am here in this frozen wonderland?" So bare with me for this self discovery. If along the way, you want to also live here and be my neighbor I would be happy.

I have to start simple. Five years ago, we were expecting Andrew and decided that we needed another bedroom and some extra room. It is that third child that makes you move and get the mini-van. We found this home here in Apple Valley and decided to take a look. I will say right now that I really did NOT want to move to Apple Valley. I liked my old stomping grounds in Eagan..but I agreed to at least look at this home. The home itself was old and needed LOTS of work. But when I walked around and saw the great park across the street and the trees, I knew it was the best place for us to be.

Last Monday we decided to go to the park. It is something we do a lot. (If you look up the path you can see part of our humble abode)
We searched for rocks and threw them into the water. There has been lots of construction, so the grass is gone around the path and pond right now. We then hit the playground.

Andrew has always loved this handle scoot across thingy...you know what I am talking about.
One day Ry and Em will find that buried treasure..or China. Whichever comes first.
This is Courtney. She spends most Monday evenings with our family and my dear neighbor Becky. This Monday she came to the park with us and had a blast. I think I did traumatize her on the swings though. Sorry Stacey! I am a crazy swing pusher : )


Here are fun neighbors Becky and McKenzie. They live around the corner from us. Whenever Emily says she wants a baby sister I tell her she has a McKenzie instead.
So that is one reason we live where we live. I guess I could have just said, "the park across the street." But, this was so much more fun right?

The flower girl

Last fall, Emily was invited to be the flower girl at my cousin Lisa Shock's wedding. Right away I knew that Emily would be all about that job. The girl loves to dress up, and this is the perfect excuse to get a new fancy dress. She will get to walk down the aisle and drop the petals..the whole sha-bang. The wedding is now coming up in six weeks (time has really gone fast-yikes!) We are planning our trip down to Georgia for this exciting event. Emily got to go with Grandma to pick up her dress. It was at David's Bridal. She got to try it on and stand up on the stand with all the mirrors. She LOVED it. I think that Emily will share this day with the bride..no guarantees though. We are leaving almost immediately after school gets out. Andrew is going to be the ring bearer and will wear a tux. I cannot wait for all the photo opportunities : )

Back to school

Living near Minneapolis means that we live near the U of M. This is very convenient when one is looking for the perfect grad school. A few months ago, I decided it would be a good time to go back to school. This is something I have always planned to do and now is the time. It turns out that the U of M has an amazing Masters of Education program. I am super excited about it. I am getting my application together this summer and hopefully will start in January. Of course, I will be keeping you all posted on the whole process. Yes, 10 years ago I was slightly scared of the U of M campus. I was still fresh off the Y campus and easily scared of all that was non-BYU. ( These students definitely had not signed an honor code, can you believe such a place could exist? I mean some BOYS even had long hair!) Now fast forward 10 years, and you will find me walking the campus and loving the buildings, bookstores and the whole idea of the U.