Saturday, May 30, 2009

Happy Birthday Ronin!


Ronin turned six years old on Thursday, but we celebrated it yesterday with family. He received clothes, a scooter, PS2 games, action figures, a back-pack, and a few more things that I can't quite think of right this minute. Later, we went out for pizza and lazer tag with my mom and dad. My mom watched Rigdon while the rest of us went and duked it out. It was a blast!
Blowing out the candles.
Yeah! Clothes.
Some of our birthday well-wishers - Grandma Kristy Lewis, Great-Grandma Joan Morton, and Grandma Judy Hansen
Silly Ronin.

Grandpa Carl Hansen holding Rigdon.

Grandpa Hansen feeding Rigdon - I remember when Ronin used to do the same thing.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

School's Out!

School officially ended today. So now what do we do with all of our little monkeys? Why send them back to the zoo of course! It was Rigdon's 6th birthday today but since we weren't going to celebrate it until tomorrow with all of the grandparents we wanted to do something to make the day special. We asked him what he would like to do and he wanted to go to the zoo....and so off we went.

Our monkeys are excited about their new home.





There was an animal demonstration going on while we were there. Here they are passing around a tarantula for the kids to see.


For those who've been to the penquin exhibit you know how stinky it smells.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Reading Awards

Connor and Aubrey received reading awards today at their school's year-end assembly. Aubrey received the 1st place award and $15 for AR reading for all the 5th graders in the school. Connor received a "Reading in Excellence" award. Good job, kids!




Love the orange walls in the gym at their school

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Exploring Indian Creek

For Memorial Day weekend, it started out pretty typical - Saturday jobs for the kids, Jed mowed the lawn, I began laundry (I say "began" because it takes a good full day to get it all washed and then it usually doesn't get folded for a couple of days - I like the wrinkle effect that the clothes get.) After that, we went and planted the garden over at my mom and dad's house. I was a little nervous about the garden because my mom and dad are usually there to help us - they know how far to place the seeds away from each other, how thick the rows should be, how many corn seeds to put in each hole, how much dirt to put on top of the seeds, etc (there were no instructions on the seed bags) and to be honest, I don't have much of a green thumb. But since they weren't interested in planting very much in the garden this year, it was up to our little family to do it. So far we've planted corn, peas, and beans, and then next week we'll plant some other vegetables. I just hope we did everything right so that we actually get a nice harvest in the fall.

Anyhow, we decided that since Jed only had Saturday off of work, we needed to do something fun. Since Ronin has been begging us for months to "go see the mountains," we decided to head to Indian Creek just off of the Palisade Dam area. We get there and so much for the "quiet, peaceful woods" - people, four-wheelers, and motorcycles were everywhere, but we knew it would probably be like this. However, we were able to find an untouched spot and then we hiked deeper into the woods where we had complete privacy. Jed practiced with the kids in starting a fire with flint - the only way we ended up getting it to really stay going at first was grabbing the winter hair off of our dog, Kojiro, and using that. The kids went exploring with Jed and then they played hide-and-seek. Rigdon enjoyed tasting the dirt and wood chips that he found around him. On our way home, we spotted a moose and watched him drink and then swim across Big Elk Lake. That was pretty cool. We were really far away so I didn't worry about taking pictures, however we got a few of us below, enjoy!



Connor and Ronin checking our their surroundings. I wish our backyard had something like this, the kids would stay entertained for hours on end. I would probably never hear: "I'm bored!"


Aubrey is into photography, so she took a few photos of us as well.


Our fearsome, floppy-eared, protector with the kids.


Our sweet, little piromaniac!
Check it out mom, fire! Can you see Rigdon in the background? He's munching on wood chips.


Wood, anyone? There's plenty to go around.

Aubrey with Rigdon, who had just dropped his stick and this was his "uh-oh" face.


Happy Rigdon, clapping his hands.



Mmmmm, mom, this dirt is much better than what we've got at home!
Rigdon loving the outdoors, just like his dad.
We love the great outdoors!
Ronin wasted no time climbing on everything.

Aubrey's 11th Birthday

Aubrey celebrated her 11th birthday this last Friday. She was able to have two parties, one with her friends and then one with just family.


She's growing up so quickly and there are many changes going on in her life. She's been able to secure one steady babysitting job that is once a week for two boys - weird to think she is old enough to be doing that. She is certainly enjoying the freedom that comes with having money - which is usually spent on Bella Sara Horse trading cards, horse books, or horse stickers, oh and candy (I'm sure you are getting the idea here, sounds nothing like the way I used to be.) :) So I bumped up the ratio on some of that money going to savings (and of course tithing), but she doesn't seem to mind. I think she's just happy she doesn't have to go through us now, if she has the money, she can buy whatever she wants by herself.

She will be starting Junior High after the summer. She had the choice to either sign up for band or art classes, so I suggested she do band and I would try and put her in some art classes during the summer. She agreed and at first she was planning on playing my clarinet that I used to play back in the good 'ol days. But after seeing an instrument demonstration at her school, she decided she wanted to try the flute. So we purchased one a few weeks ago and she is all ready to go. However, we are still going to have her continue with piano lessons, we feel it will benefit her throughout her life. So, she will be a busy girl that's for sure. We love her dearly and are very grateful for her giving heart and loving attitute. Happy Birthday Aubrey!



Preparing the candles so we can sing happy birthday. I made the mistake of putting the candles too close to her horse and it's nose set on fire. Oops!



More surpises, Bella Sara horse trading cards from Connor and Ronin! Pictured with Aubrey is her Great-grandma, Joan Morton, holding Rigdon.
Look! "The Last Unicorn" movie. Didn't see that one coming.

Party time with friends!
The kids played several games. Here is the Dizzy Relay Race where they have to twirl with the bat 10 times and then run. Everybody did pretty well except for the boy here in this picture (Justin) - he ran into the picnic table and fell over. Aubrey is on the other bat.

Musical chairs - funny how even at this age kids still love playing this game.

Egg Relay Race - Connor and our neighbor, Keneisha, are racing to be the first to get back to their team.

Aubrey and Chris Cheney are next. Go, Aubrey, go!
Egg Toss Game - pairs start close together throwing a raw egg at each other. The pair who is the last one to break their egg is the winner.
Notice how carefully and gently Ronin is throwing his egg to his Dad? (Eggs were computer painted yellow so you could see them easier.)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Pine Wood Derby

Connor had his pinewood derby a few weeks ago. His car's design this year was "Pokeman."



The Pinewood Derby is a popular and well-attended event - Scouts are everywhere!
The Winners! Connor came is 3rd place.
Connor and Ronin watching the cars pass the finish line.

Ballroom Class Pictures

Aubrey and Connor's dance recital is coming up this weekend and they will be performing the Viennese Waltz and the Cha-Cha. They've had a lot of fun this year.

Ballroom Performance at the Mall
Ballroom Class Pictures

Monday, May 4, 2009

Rigdon's walking!

Rigdon took his first steps a month or two ago but we finally got around to recording it a couple of weeks ago. He gets a big kick out of it. He isn't to the point where he is walking everywhere all of the time - but it's coming fast.