Memorial Day

Memorial Day was a fun-filled day for us. My Aunt Renae brought some horses to a nearby arena to let us all do some horse-riding. It gave us a chance to see some of my cousins and their families. I even got to see my friend, Jenni, and her boys too.

This was Rigdon's first opportunity to get to ride a horse and was so excited when he saw them. We put him on Dolly and took him for a little ride. He absolutely loved it...the smile on his face just lit up. Aubrey was kind enough to lead while I stayed by Rigdon's side. He was so cute to watch.

Aubrey on Dolly.

Ronin enjoying the rodeo arena with the other boys.

My fun-lovin aunts, Renae and Peggy.

Aubrey still riding Dolly.

What boy doesn't like a good dirt pile to play in?

Connor wasn't nearly as excited to go horse riding at first, but once he got going I think he remembered how much he used to like it and ended up riding more than he intended.

Since all of the kids had to take turns with the horses, the dirt pile ended up being another fun thing to play on while they were waiting.

Go Connor!

Ronin also hasn't ridden a whole lot and so this felt new to him all over again. He was pretty nervous at first, but his horse was wonderful and Connor rode by his side.

Ridgon telling his cousin, Brooklyn, where the horses are.

Ridgon likes hanging out with my Aunt Renae, especially since she serves in the nursery at church and Rigdon gets to hang out with her every Sunday.

Connor and Briggs out taking a spin.

Rigdon and Grandpa watching the kids riding the horses.

Just hanging out and enjoying one another's company.

Cory has given Rigdon a new nickname, Rigdoneeon! (I'm not sure quite how to spell that.) I think Rigon likes his Uncle Cory a lot.

After horse riding, we later went and visited some gravesites with my mom and dad and Cory's family. We first saw my Grandpa Taysom's headstone. I can't believe it's been 5 years since he past away...it doesn't seem like it's been that long.

The kids enjoyed playing with each other...which was ok because no one else was out there but us.

Time to go.

Afterwards, we headed to the cemetery in town where my brother, Troy, was buried.

My niece, Brooklyn, liked checking out the flowers.

My Grandma Taylor is also buried in the same cemetery but on the other side, so we walked over and looked at hers too.

Afterwards, we stopped and grabbed some snow cones on the way home. Yummy!

It didn't take long for the kids to fall asleep tonight, I think the day completely wore them out. Nice! :)

Ronin's 7th Birthday

Ronin turned 7 years old this last Friday. We had a family birthday party for him at a pizza place since the weather was rainy.

Singing the birthday song to Ronin. He is sitting by one of his cousins, Briggs.

Ronin blowing out the candles with his nose. I must say that is a first, I've never known anyone to do that before. It worked though, he was able to blow out all of his candles! However there were some (Cory) who weren't sure they wanted a piece of cake after that. :)
Birthday well-wishers, Grandma and Grandpa Hansen, and Ronins' other cousins', Ethan and Brooklyn. We are so happy they could be here for this.

Opening presents.

Ronin got some action figures of GI Joe and Bakugan. Briggs and Ethan got him some Pokeman cards.

More presents. He got a lot of clothes, two pairs of sandles, a little bubble gum machine, Hungry Hippo Game, a bubble blower, and other toys that I can't remember .

My brother, Cory, and his wife, Lisa, and their son, Briggs. They just moved back here from Ohio and it's been so much fun being able to hang out with them.

All of the kids - they had a great time playing in the jungle gym area. Connor and Aubrey spent most of their time playing arcade games.
Happy Birthday, Ronin!


He's already counting down the days to when he turns eight, because he knows that's when he can get baptized.


THINGS WE LOVE AND KNOW ABOUT RONIN:
* Has a very contagious laugh.

* His favorite color is green.

* There's no such thing as "walking" in Ronin's world - only running.

* He is constantly in some kind of battle or another because all we ever hear is shooting and bombing noises wherever he goes. The house, anywhere outside, in the van, visiting with people, you name it we are still hearing it.

* He is AlWaYs HuNgRy!!! I can't keep this kid filled up.

* LoVeS BROCCOLI...yes, that's right, broccoli. He requests it for dinner just about every day.

Little Boys Rock

Aren't little boys just so much fun? I love this age group - their little personalities just explode with energy and joy.

Rigdon: 2 years old

Everyday Rigdon does something to make us all smile and laugh.

I love how his little bottom wiggles when he runs.

One day I'm really gonna miss all these sweet little moments, but for now I'm gonna just soak it all in.

Ronin's Reading Award

Today, Jed and I went to an assembly at Ronin's school. His teacher had called us last Friday to let us know that he would be receiving an award and wanted to invite us to come and show our support for him. She told us that he had received one of the two "Most Improved Reader" awards for his class.

Ronin was surprised to see us there - at first he didn't know who I was behind the camera which is why he's got this look on his face shown below.

He was all smiles once he realized it was his mom and dad who were sitting behind him, calling his name.

Going up and receiving his medal and certificate.

We are really proud of him because he started off this year in the lower end of the class in reading. He seemed to struggle with his previous teacher and class last year, I am not sure why, but it really affected how well he was learning in class.

By the end of this year, he had shot straight up to the highest end of his class in reading and had one of the biggest improvement rates (they actually keep track of this stuff) in his class. I don't know what it was this year that made such a difference for him. Maybe it was the wonderful way his teacher taught, or maybe he was more comfortable this time around, or just ready to really learn....whatever it was I am grateful for it. His lack of confidence last year really concerned me, but it has been completely different this year. He is much more sure of himself now.

At home he has been able to join in and read without a problem during our family scripture study. That's when I knew he had really started learning. We are definately proud of the amount of progress he's made.

Ronin's proud parents!

Congratulations, Ronin!

Aubrey's 12th Birthday Portraits

Here are some portraits taken of Aubrey for her twelfth birthday. We took the photos in a nice little patch of purple flowers over in a field that we live close to. To view a larger image just click on the photo.

Aubrey's 12th Birthday Party

This week we celebrated Aubrey's twelfth birthday - wow, where has the time gone? We had a birthday celebration today with our family and all of Aubrey's grandparents and great-grandparents.

Since Aubrey can now participate in the Young Women's program at church, I thought a rainbow cake displaying all of the colors was a great fit. (Each color represents a value such as integrity = purple in the Young Women program.)

Aubrey let Rigdon help her blow out the candles. These two photos are mixed up, the one below is Aubrey holding Rigdon back from trying to blow the candles out too early.

Grandma Kriss and Connor looking on. Kriss gave Aubrey several shirts and shorts.

Aubrey received this horse shirt from her great-grandparents, the Hansens. I know she'll be wearing this one a lot.

She received a card and ice cream sandwiches from her grandparents, the Hansens, along with a promise that Grandma Hansen would be taking Aubrey out to lunch and to do some shoe shopping.

Church shoes from mom and dad - she already discovered these shoes a few days earlier when she went into our bedroom. I told her she could still act surprised even though she had already seen them. She just laughed when she pulled them out of the package.

Aubrey's Great-grandma Hansen and Grandparents, the Hansens. The Morton's were also present, I just didn't snap any pictures over in their direction. The Mortons gave Aubrey a book and some clothes.

For Aubrey's main gift we got her a laptop....yes, I know what you're thinking....WHAT!!! A LAPTOP! SHE'S ONLY 12 YEARS OLD?! What you don't realize is how much writing and photography Aubrey does. She's already written several long books (most are about 150 pages long) and she takes TONS of photos. She hopes to publish her stories one day. Her room is brimming with paper of all her stories. We figured a laptop was a great place to keep all of those stories, photos, and music in one place. She can type to her hearts content and look at her photos whenever she pleases. The internet connection in the laptop has been disabled. We feel Aubrey is mature and trustworthy enough that she can handle such a device and still manage her time wisely. She's such a creative person that we wanted to give her something that would really help her out with developing the talents that she has.

Besides, at school they are already requiring reports and research to be done on the computer now. It was really just a matter of time. The laptop we chose wasn't a top of the line, expensive one...just a relatively simple, inexpensive one that could do the things that Aubrey likes to do.

Aubrey opening the package that contains the laptop - she was absolutely stunned. I love the look between Aubrey and her dad in this photo.

She's been asking for a laptop for quite sometime and we told her it would be a very long time before she would ever get something like that. It came a lot sooner than I ever anticipated.
But ya know what, she deserves it..she really does. Aubrey just couldn't get over the fact that she got a laptop.

Gosh, I remember when it was a big deal for me to get my own phone for my room when I had turned 16 years old. Wow, how times have changed.

I think Grandpa Hansen was pretty jealous because he kept trying to negotiate and trade anything for Aubrey's laptop, including one of Renaes' horses out in the back of his house. :) He told Aubrey that he was breaking one of the Ten Commandments because he was coveting her laptop.

Aubrey still surprised...it took her several minutes to come to grips that she really had a laptop.

The face says it all.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. We love you very much. You have turned into such a beautiful, young woman. You make us very proud to be your parents. Thanks for all of your love and unselfish service to this family, we appreciate all that you do. Love, Mom and Dad.

Although Aubrey can now officially get her ears pierced and wear makeup, she is sticking to her promise of never wearing any of that "stuff." We'll see how long this lasts, anyone wanna take bets? I'm guessing it might take anywhere from 1-2 years before she caves in. I guess we'll see.

What we love and know about Aubrey:

*She still loves the color purple.

*She still prefers just brushing through her hair once and calling it good than to actually "style" it (aka "The Daddy Special.") If she actually looks done up, it is because her mom got involved.

*She still loves snuggling and sleeping with her daddy.
*She thinks Rigdon is the cutest baby in the world and loves having him as a roommate. That is, unless he is still up and making noise at 10 PM and still won't go to bed. That's when she ends up sleeping on the living room couch.

* She can read a book faster than anyone I know.

*She responds to "Slave #1" because she is not only our first child but is also the one we ask most to do something for us.

*Has never liked the singer Miley Cirus, but loves music from Enya and Bon Jovi.

* Her favorite activities are writing, drawing, reading, karate, ballroom, and riding horses.

*She loves going to mutual and is happy to be in Young Womens.

*Doesn't like boys AT ALL, even though she's been asked to go to two dances at school. Her ballroom partner has a crush on her and she is sooooo annoyed at him because he flirts with her A LOT.

*Gripes all the time about how she is the shortest person in her grade.

*She is quick to stand up for anyone she feels is being bullied.