We love DAD!

What more can I say....Camden has said it all!



We couldn't ask for a better guy to be the Dad at our house!

"Hope ya know, we had a hard time"...Elder Cook

So I have lots to post about! A trip to Portland, our family vacation to California, Darin's birthday and even T-ball! I will get to it eventually but first wanted to share a video clip from You Tube. Our bishop sends a newsletter out the first of each month. In this months, he encouraged us all to watch this clip off of Youtube. I thought it was very powerful and just wanted to share it.

Look-a-Like

Every parent gets the question...."Who do your kids look like?". Well I often answer that there are a few things Chase and a few things Parson in each. Kind of a good mix, although some people have strong opinions one way or another. Maybe it is just harder to see as a mom. I guess it might be fun to compare pictures of Darin and I with each of our kids at their different ages....another post idea! Well a few months ago we came across some pictures of my dad as a kid. He hadn't ever seen them, actually no one had because they were on old slides in my grandparents basement. Once we got ahold of them I was astonished at the resemblance Carter has to my dad! It is almost uncanny! (at least to me...tell me what you think) I guess we can have a good idea as to what he will look like as an adult!!!

In case you can't tell, my dad is the one in the middle.

I guess it was fitting that Carter was given a middle name after his papa!

Look who's turning 30!

It is finally time for Darin to be as old as his wife!!! Send out a email, text, call or leave a comment and wish this old man welcome into the next decade!!!! Happy Birthday Darin! Thanks for all that you do and for being the great guy that you are! I love you....we all LOVE you!!! I look forward to the next 30+!!!!

Posts galore!

My eyes are red, the carpal tunnel is setting in, it's way past my bedtime.....but I have finally caught up on my blog....almost! It is a little out of order. I thought I could change the order later...I was wrong, but it is all there. This is what we have been up to, ENJOY!

Tutu anyone?

My sis-in-law came up and taught me how to make a tutu...who knew having a girl was so much fun!

Spring

What I look forward to every year in the spring.....the only thing that keeps me going through those cold winter months! (and now they are already gone :( ! )

Day 3

Day 3: Family party at the park.

Well our final day of celebration was at the park. We just met for cake and ice cream, played a little catch (thanks Char) and a little kick croquet (thanks Oma) and just had a relaxing evening. It was a lot of fun...and once again Camden's birthday has come to a close. Only 365 more days of hearing Camden ask how soon until his next birthday!!!


Every year I ask my kids what kind of a cake they would like. Sometimes I will make it, other times I just don't attempt. Well this year Camden wanted a sports cake which evolved into an Aggie cake. I had grand ideas, but he sat next to me and designed his whole cake. I must admit it was the easiest cake I have ever had to make and I think he got a bigger kick out if it than any other year! My only problem was getting the frosting to be navy blue. I used half a bottle of food coloring paste and this was the best I could do.....funny thing, everyone looked like Carter when they were finished!

Happy Birthday Camden! We love having you as part of our family! I can hardly believe you are 6 years old!!!!

Lagoon!

Day 2: Lagoon
This year I told Camden instead of a friend party (only every other year), we could do something big as a family. He chose to go to Lagoon. He wanted all of his family to come. In the end Nana, Ashley, Gabrielle, Oma, Konnor and our little family of 5 all made the trip. It was much more crowded than I guessed it would be this early in the season, but the weather was great and we had a fun day!

Myah had an allergic reaction to the sunscreen I put on her face. Generic isn't the way to go....lesson learned! Two hours of crying is not worth saving a couple of bucks!

That is Camden way up there. He was our little daredevil. He loved the white roller coaster and wild mouse just to name a few! I think he got his dad's genes for a need to be thrilled!

My sister Ashley, my mom (YES...my MOM) and niece all plummeting to their death....I so did NOT get that gene!

Camden and Gabrielle

Carter and Myah (post allergic reaction....still a little teary eyed!)

Their lucky mom and dad!

Camden's big day!

Camden is such a big fan of his birthday! For him, birthday's might even surpase Christmas as far as favorite holidays go! Ever since he has started school, he has been asking me when his birthday will be. How many more days until his birthday. Why on earth did I have to have him in May and make him wait so long for it to be his turn! So we tried our best to celebrate Camden's birthday like crazy so it made all of the waiting worth it!!!

Day 1: His real birthday.

We let him open one present before school. He got a "two wheeled scooter" (as opposed to 3 wheeled...apparently those are for babies.)

Celebrating his birthday at school. We read through a little book that Camden made about himself. He was so proud. Just look at that grin!

Dorky picture of me...I know, but I love the way Camden is looking at me!

Present time later that afternoon. I guess Carter gave Camden something he really wanted!!!

Birthday cake #1. Darin took the boys to a father/son campout that night so we just had a mini cake celebration before they went. We couldn't NOT have a cake on his real big day!

Field trip to the "Zoo"

Camden's kindergarten went to Willow Park last week. He was very excited. A couple of days before, his cousin was telling him about his upcoming field trip to Hogle Zoo. Camden just said "Cool mom, we both get to go to the zoo!" I am glad he didn't realize that Hogle Zoo is just a little more exciting than our own Willow Park. But regardless we had a great time. I was glad to be able to go and spend the morning with him!



We have loved Camden's teacher this year! I had to get a picture of her in action. Whenever I have volunteered for field trips or when I have been at school during their recess, Camden's teacher blows on her whistle and like magic all 25 5-6 year olds come running, no complaining or tantrum throwing, and eagerly get in line. I am in the market for such a magic whistle! We will miss Mrs. C next year!

Camden, Spencer, Adam, Jordan, Savannah, Jalen, Tyler (Jordan and Jalen could be mixed up, I can't tell them apart!)

What a fun little day we had! Thanks Camden for always inviting me to tag along!

Soccer

This year was a fun soccer season! Camden loved it! He has finally started to get the hang of it and it was fun to see how much he has improved since last year. It felt like it didn't last very long since so many of his games were cancelled, but we had a great time! I had to enjoy my last season of soccer with only one son playing. I'm not sure how I will pull off two kids playing at the same time next year!

He played one game in the rain! You can't tell, but he was soaked!

Will B., Zack S., Kaden C., Camden, Kaden J.

Ryen, Grace C., Kaylee S.
Way to go Camden!!

Thank goodness he is a boy!

If you are going to tell you son he needs a haircut for over a week.....don't be surprised if he takes matters into his own hands! A few weeks ago, I went to cut Camden's hair when I saw a whole bunch of hair all over the haircutting supplies. I thought maybe the little baggy with Myah's hair from her first hair cut had been dumped out. I didn't think much of it. After I was done cutting Camden's hair, I noticed Carter had hair all over his shirt. I started to ask him why when all of a sudden I noticed the bald spots. All 4 of them! He cut his hair completely to the scalp. I sat him down, told him what he had done wrong and then we shaved his head. I couldn't get myself to go all the way to 1/8" on top so I did 1/4" . You still could see a couple of the spots on the top...especially at his bangs, but we did the best that we could. Heaven help me if Myah ever does the same thing! Don't worry, the haircutting supplies are now out of reach!!! (by the way, don't ask me what I was doing while Carter was in the bathroom cutting his hair....it is still a mystery to me!)

---I was actually a little surprised at how good he looks without much hair!

Tulip festival!

One reason I LOVE spring, is because it is the only time of year that I can look at tulips! They are my very favorite flower! A few weeks ago, my friend Heidi suggested that we have a girls trip down to Thanksgiving point to see the tulips. Several of us were able to go, so we packed up the kids and had a great time! I was worried that my kids might get bored, but they had a blast. There was so much open space for them to run around. It was fun to have great company, conversation and lots and lots of tulips! Thanks Heidi! Wyatt and Myah....I didn't get a picture of them both looking at the camera, but I thought they look pretty cute together. Maybe someday if Myah will go for the younger man we can hook them up!

My boys were crazy. The white dot is Camden and the dark dot is Carter. I thought for sure they were going to be sick!

It was a beautiful place!

Family Fun Run

This year Camden's school had a family fun run. You could choose the 1 mile or the 5K. Being the avid runner that I am, I chose to do the 1 mile with Camden and Darin was going to atempt the 5k while pushing Carter and Myah in the jogging stroller. (He is about as avid of a runner as I am.) Well I checked us all in (I lucked out of a t-shirt) and we all went to the starting line. Once we were there, Darin realized I hadn't got ankle timers. He went back to get them and the race started without him. So I ran with the jogger and Camden. Darin finally caught up to us, but missed the turn off for the 5K so we ended up finishing the mile run together. It was actually a lot of fun. The memories of the dreaded timed mile in middle school did not come back to haunt me. I actually understood why so many of you run to relieve stress. It felt great to be out in the crisp, cool air of the morning. Maybe I should take up the sport!

*picture by Carter....pretty good!

Camden and his little buddy Evan.

Darin with Carter and Myah hiding inside.

It was a good thing the race was early, because this is what the weather turned into just a couple of hours later. Camden was suppose to have a soccer game....just one of the many that were cancelled this season due to poor spring weather!

Where have we been?

I have been meaning to do a post for a very long time!!!! Myah is walking, Carter cut his own hair, and Camden is busy playing soccer. I promise to fill you all in soon, but in the mean time.....we are busy playing outside!!!! You know spring is finally here when your kids haven't watched any T.V. in about 3 days!

Easter in St. George!

This year we spent Easter/spring break in St. George. It was so much fun to get away and enjoy some nice weather. My parents, along with my sister and her family joined us. We had a great time. Darin wasn't able to take off work the entire time, so he met us down there on Fri. evening. We missed him....and he definetly missed some of the excitement....I guess that is what you call it. On Fri. we decided to take the kids to this park that has a splash pad and a fun little river. We set our stuff down, and I took the next couple of pictures....Myah and Grady just enjoyed sittin in the sun...

Myah as usual enjoyed chewing on her shoe.

We had only been there long enough to put on sun screen when Camden told me he needed to use the restroom. I asked Carter if he wanted to come, but he was already having to much fun (I never got a picture of him, but if you want to see his excitement check out this picture.) Anyway, we went to the bathroom, waited in line for about 5 min. and when we got back, my brother-in-law was holding Carter and Lesli looked about as pale as a ghost. When I asked them what happened, they told me Carter slipped and hit his head, got up, walked a little and passed out and hit his head again. By the time Lesli was over to him he was blue and unconscious. It only took him a minute to come to, but it was long enough to give everyone around him a good scare. Unfortunately Carter has a reputation for holding his breath when he gets hurt and this isn't the first time it has happened. A couple of years ago was the first incident, and it scared us so bad the ambulance ended up coming and we headed to the ER for tests. (If anyone else has breath holders out their you know how scary it looks!) Anyway to make a long story short, we ended up in the ER for about 3 hours getting a cat scan just to make sure it was him holding his breath and not trauma to his brain. He was fine....but that splash pad turned out to be much more expensive than a free day at the park! One good thing...Darin was so worried he took off from work early and we were able to be with him that evening earlier than we expected!

This year we decided we would try inviting the Easter bunny to visit us on Fri. night instead of Sat. so that on Sun. we could focus more on the real meaning of Easter. I loved it! I think that will be our new way of doing things. We went Easter crazy on Sat. however and did all of the fun things you can do on Easter...

Camden was excited that the Easter bunny found us, even though we weren't at home!

Carter was thrilled as well!

And what girl wouldn't be thrilled with a new pair of pink shoes?

After we looked at all the fun things the Easter bunny brought and ate lots of candy.....we headed off to what we thought was another Easter egg hunt at the golf course by my parents condo. Well it turned out to be more of a candy toss.....just tons of candy all over the driving range and the kids had to run as fast as they could to pick it all up. The weather was not very cooperative, but the boys didn't seem to mind!

Camden was thrilled with his loot of candy!

Carter also has a sweet tooth like you wouldn't believe....you would never guess that he was my son :-)!

Camden, Carter and Clara.

Ok, so I didn't really care to have my kids pose with this sad excuse for an Easter bunny, but I had to get a picture! Isn't it the creepiest thing you have ever seen!!! I am surprised more kids didn't leave screaming!

After eating a few pounds of candy, we decided we needed some exercise. Since the weather was bad we headed for the indoor pool. Carter said he will go swimming still, but maybe no more splash pads for him!

Myah loved the fountains, she loved the pool, I think she will be our water baby!

I don't want to go home!

Easter Sun.

Easter was a beautiful day! We headed to church in our fancy duds, and Darin and I walked back a little later than the kids. When we got home Camden was already changed and I couldn't convince him to go and get dressed up for pictures. So I got a few of him in just his play clothes....he still looks pretty handsome...

Carter on the other hand LOVES to stay in his church clothes on Sun. So here are some fun shots of him.

Myah and Grady. Aren't they cute! We've been asked if they were twins...would you believe that he is 4 months younger than Myah? I think he will be tall and Myah will be short, but if you look at their parents, that is no surprise!Myah is at such a fun stage, and I get a little photo happy with her. My boys just don't think it is much fun to have their pictures taken anymore and Myah....well she just sits there! (By the way, no I didn't make Myah's dress, but a friend of mine did...isn't it cute! You can check our her darling dresses at jennijackson.com)

Carter LOVES his sister!

Clara Belle!

We had such a fun trip!!! We can't wait to go back!