Sunny April

The month of April has been busy and we have loved it! With everyone on spring break a different week the visitors have been endless :) It is great! Grandpa and Grandpa arrived and as you can see the boys were so excited.

Ian and Aaron love to draw and color pictures for people. Ian colored these for Geromu, Ajrou, hunter, and Geropo :) My favorite spelling is Andrew -you can totally she how he would come up with that!

The next week the Thompson's came to visit! Clearly I do not take enough pictures anymore :( I can't believe I do not have one of Ian and Ellie together. The conversation the two of them had was hilarious. They were in their own little make believe world and having a blast. Below is Brock, Issac, Ava, Gunner (Ian's friend we watch a couple days a week) and Ian. It was so much fun having them here I can't believe how old all of our kids are getting. But clearly we haven't changed!

I am also an Activity Day's leader in our ward. The girls that I have are wonderful! They are so smart and always see the bright side of things. I love this picture below because the girls always laugh at my old granny chair but fight over who gets to sit in it. I may or may not have been slightly freaking out that they were going to break my chair...they begged me to quickly take a picture, so I did. Then I immediately told them to get off my chair. In a loving way of course :)

We have loved having visitors and April has been great! Ava is still as happy as ever :) She prefers toys that are not actually her toys. She still loves to eat everything...we can add spaghetti to her list.

It feels that summer has already begun!

We try and do a little cleaning here and there :)

Bring on the barbecues! Ava was loving the hotdog bun with ketchup :) Seriously her mouth is watering.

Love the boys with their kool-aid stained faces. Although I am not sure how these two didn't set the entire neighborhood on fire. Ahhh

While the outdoors have been great we need a little downtime inside too.

 

After a little catnap we usually head back outside.

 Tim was unfortunately working all of easter weekend. So my family was able to come down and spend the weekend with us! We went to the Easter Eggtraveganza  at Thanksgiving Point and the boys had a good time finding eggs. Pictures to come. The next morning the Easter bunny had left each child different colored eggs around the house. I am not sure why the Easter Bunny has not done this before? It was heavenly. There was no arguing over who go what and it lasted much longer. Smart bunny ;)

When then headed to church to enjoy a wonderful Easter sunday. Ava enjoyed trying to giving baby Owen "hugs." They were so cute!

We came home and enjoyed making band bracelets. The boys call them transformer bracelets because they have magical powers that allow them to transform into anything. Got to love their imagination!

It has been a wonderful month! Now we get to prepare the boys and get ready for them both to have a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy....more information to come :)

Grandma Kathy

Kathleen Layne Foster(1940 - 2014)

On March 30, 2014 Kathy Foster was 73 years old when complications from a stroke took her from this life to join the angels awaiting her in heaven. She was born August 15, 1940 to Ben and Gwen Layne in Lewiston, Utah. Two years later they welcomed her brother, Jerry Layne into the family. 

At 12 years of age Kathy lost her father due to an automobile accident. She became very close to her Uncle Ken and Aunt Audene Porters' family who were strength to her during these difficult times. She spent many summers with them and will always be grateful for their care. After graduating from West High school in Salt Lake City, Utah, she attended BYU for a short time and then later graduated from beauty school. She married Davis Foster of Preston, Idaho on September 21, 1961 in the Logan LDS Temple. They lived in Whitney, Idaho where they ran a dairy farm, and she did hair in their home while raising their family. Later on she worked as the office manager for Dr. Rodney Grover for many years. She continued to work in the medical field until she retired. In 1989 Kathy and Davis divorced and she lived in Logan, Utah for a few years and then moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. She loved reading, painting, self-improvement, teaching, spending time with her close friends and most of all going to dinner with her friend Karen.

Kathy's greatest joy was her family. She is survived by her daughter, Cindy Diamond (Bruce) of Providence, Utah, Todd Foster (Lisa) of Houston, Texas, Shane Foster (Carrie) of Afton, Wyoming and her niece Marlo Layne Vivenzio of Park City, Utah. She especially loved her grandchildren, Ashley (Tim), Andrew, Hunter, Shyla, Audrey, Jace, Tate, Josie, Samantha, Makell, Addison, and her great grandchildren Ian, Aaron, Ava and Trace. Kathy is loved and will be greatly missed. Kathy was preceded in death by her father Ben Layne, her mother Gwen Crossland, her brother Jerry Layne and her grand-daughter Reesie Foster.

The family would like to thank all the many friends, relatives and caregivers that were there to help her in her later years. According to Kathy's wishes a graveside service will be held in the summer where her ashes will be placed along with her brother's. 

Go Ian!

Beside the normal organized chaos of life. This little boy has had a rough month. When Ian gets home from school I always ask him what is something he learned, something that was his least favorite and favorite part of the day. On this particular day (the bus was a little late) Ian came home so excited to tell me about what they did in class. In the middle of his conversation I missed a call from the principle of his school. The call was to inform me that Ian had punched another child in the face on the bus. Ian would be suspended from recess for the week and if it happened again he would be suspended from school.  The principle said that Ian would not tell them what happened and did not tell him the other boy involved.

Clearly this raised multiple questions because it did not sound like my Ian. Ian told us his story and I had multiple mothers call me after school that also verified what Ian had told me. Apparently an older boy got on the bus and was acting crazy hyper. He cornered Ian in his seat and started hitting him in the stomach.....so Ian punched him in the face and the boy ran away crying to the bus driver. Go Ian! After having multiple mothers call me to let me know that there children were all upset that Ian got in trouble you can imagine how frustrated I was. I will give the school the benefit that Ian refused to tell them anything. He did not want the other boy to get into trouble. However telling a Kindergartner he is not allowed to go to recess! Seriously he did not even want to go to school. Not only that then threatening him that he is going to be suspended from school without knowing the story -come on! We did discuss with Ian that next time you just push the kid away. However, he did not start it and was simply defending himself. Why I am having to deal with this in Kindergarten is scary!

I went into school with Ian the next day. The administration informed me that they felt the situation had been dealt with appropriately and they were not allowed to disclose any other information about the other student involved. What??? I don't think they even knew who the other student was. Words can't express my frustration. After sharing my opinions on the other student, bus driver, and how the administration "dealt" with the situation I think my point was made and heard. We then went and talked with his teacher. His teacher was wonderful and refused to actually suspend him from recess. She got down and told him -I would have done the same thing! As of now we only have three weeks left of school and we have not had a problem.

To add to Ian's rough month of March.... he was playing soccer downstairs by himself (I was downstairs vacuuming) tripped and hit the chair with his chin. This caused his bottom teeth to go through his lip :( Being the paranoid mother I am we rushed him to his pediatrician where they decided it would heal better without stitches. Thankfully they were right! I don't think he even has a scar.

Let's hope that the next few month go better!

End of March

I was doing so good with blogging. I finally caught up and was sure I would not get behind again. But three kids, two dogs, and a husband ....I am a little behind again :(

This is Ryder (our dog on the left) and Daisy (my friends dog on the right).

Daisy's family went on a cruise for a couple weeks so Daisy came to stay with us. The first night for her was a little rough but after that she was great! Her and Ryder got along well. They mostly just did care about each other. It was not until Daisy left that we discovered how much Ryder loved having her around. You could not say Daisy's name without him frantically looking throughout the house. They were great together. Ryder would steal Daisy's toys and then Daisy would bounce around in circles not knowing what to do. Eventually Daisy would chew on Ryder's bones and Ryder would just sit there and wait for her to leave so he could take it back. 

Daisy is used to having food out all the time. Ryder would seriously eat an entire bag of dog food if I left him. He has discovered how to pop the lid on his food container and sometimes helps himself to a few extra helpings. While he would really like to eat Daisy's food he knows he can't have it (as you can see in the picture below). Smart doggie! Daisy loves sitting on my lap -so Tim let Ryder jump up on his lap. 

Tim has tried making a few dog toys for Ryder. We have discovered that their is no such thing as a solid toy for him. He can cut or rip through anything in seconds. Felt is supposed to be extremely difficult for dogs to chew through so Tim made him this nice toy. He spent a could 20-30 minutes perfecting it. Which Ryder chewed through and destroyed in a matter of minutes. So it is just bones for him.

The weather in Utah has been all over the place, which is typical. One day it is snowing and the next it is sunny. Ava loves putting everything in her mouth. I am not sure why but she is obsessed with all things dog related. Her she is trying to chew on his leash. She also loves his Kong toy. So much that we joke about getting her one for her birthday ;)

She also loves food! She will eat everything but for some reason ground turkey doesn't seem to settle well.  Her current favorite is mac n cheese and mash potato. 

We also celebrated Daddy's birthday this month! He turned 29 :) As birthday present his work even put him on-call for the night. Although I think he got called in at about midnight.

Ian's elementary school puts on a wonderful play every year. We have gone to them since we moved here and Ian was 3. This year they performed Robin Hood. The boys were completely engaged and loved every minute :) We always go for the dress rehearsal. I load my bag up with snacks and drinks we sit right in the front and enjoy the performance. It is super kid friendly and what makes it even better is there is hardly anyone there. The boys don't have to worry about sitting behind anyone. We don't have to worry about getting their hours before it begins to get a good seat! I love it!

March catch-up!

It is no surprise but time is flying by as usual. The weather here in Utah is all over the place...one day it is Spring the next it is a blizzard. We headed with the kids to Sundance for Ian's last day of skiing lessons and surprisingly no one needed a coat. It was warm and sunny which did not make for the best skiing but the kids didn't mind.

The end of February we celebrated my 29th birthday. Daddy and Ava built a new coat rack for guests and put in a shoe cabinet. I think these two pictures are my absolute favorite! You can see how much Tim loves Ava in the first picture and how much Ava loves her daddy in the second picture. So sweet!

That evening the boys decided it would be fun to go and see the Lego movie for my birthday! We all agreed and had a blast! We spotted this Muppets advertisement on the way out and the boys thought they would join in ;) 

Ian was also a "Very Important Person" the first week of March. The whole family went to his class and talked about how wonderful he is! He even showed them how he can always make his sister smile and laugh :) So cute! All of the little kindergartners started giggling along with her.  Ian was VIP for the whole week...he gets to be the line leader, lead the pledge, all other kinds of important things. Unfortunately the next day round two of the dreaded winter bug hit and Ian missed the rest of the school week :(

When Ian told Aaron that they say the Pledge of Allegiance at school he was so excited to show us that he already knew the Pledge of Allegiance. Don't forget to turn up your sound ;)

As usual this nasty cold made it's way through the whole family. Somehow Ian and I ended up with a mild cold. Poor Tim, Ava and Aaron had an awful cold. Aaron loved taking nice hot showers to help with his congestion. He was seriously confused for a good 4 minutes before Tim started recording this video...poor boy just felt awful but still managed to give us a good laugh. Don't worry the video is clean :)

At just over nine months this little girl finally cut her first tooth. Her bottom right! You can just barely see her pearly white tooth poking through. 

I finally caught a decent video of her crawling. Yes she always goes after the boys toys which Aaron is not too happy about.

We headed to Logan for a quick baby shower for a friend one weekend. Ava decided that she loves Grandpa's hat. She also still likes to crawl over things, and goes after all electronics.

When we were in Logan the boys and I got some nice haircuts! Ian has been begging to cut his hair short so I finally agreed. Well almost -I wouldn't let him cut it like his dad (no buzz cuts) especially with family pictures coming up. The boys have been the best of friends (for about five minutes) but mostly enemies the other 23 hrs and 55 minutes. Occasionally when they are getting along I usually take a picture just to remind myself that they really do love each other.

Just another ordinary day!

One things is for sure everyone loves this cutie!

She is still growing way to fast and thinks it is hilarious to stand up in her crib and wait for me to get her. Or she moves to the other side and chews on her mobile. 

What I want I get!

It's official this little cutie is clearly a diva in the making! She is now nine months old and moving...everywhere! If she wants something there is a high possibility that someone will get it for her or she will find a way to get it herself!

At her nine month appointment her pediatrician couldn't believe how perfect she was :) We completely agree!  

Weight......16 lbs 10 oz.....22nd percentile

Height.......27.5 in.....41st percentile

Head Circumference....43 1/4 cm....31st percentile

She eats everything (except the eggs, nuts, and honey of course). She is crawling everywhere and doesn't let anything get in her way. She pulls up to a stand on furniture, people, and anything taller than her. She is slowly starting to transfer from one piece of furniture to a nearby (a few inches away) toy. She loves her brothers and they love her. She tends to stare people down and then give them her killer smile. She loves playing peek-a-boo. Dog toys are her favorite. Unfortunately she has also discovered the dog food and water bowl. Ryder eats his food extremely fast so there is never food left over but she loves dumping his water all over herself and the floor. She loves bath time and splashing in the water. We recently went swimming at a friends house and she loved playing in the pool! She is suddenly growing like a weed. She has officially outgrown all of her 3-6 months clothes, was in 9 month clothes for about a week,  and is now in 12 month clothes. She is growing up too fast. She also loves to babble and grunt. Can't imagine life without her! So blessed :)

MacNair Ski visit

Just as we were about of over our first round of the dreaded winter cold Tim's family arrived. Thankfully for them we were just about over it -which hopefully meant they were not going to get it. Don't worry they actually did not get sick. The boys loved have family around and thankfully Maddie was wonderful reading with them, playing superhero's, coloring, building Lego's, and doing anything the boys could think of.

Ava also loved the company. You have to be a little careful and cautious around little miss grabby hands. If you get too close there is a high chance she might pinch and pull. Ava also enjoyed her first time sitting in a high chair at the restaurant. She spent most of the time trying to steal Nana's plate, drink. and placemat. 

Of course we had to get in some skiing. The boys loved going all together as a family. 

As you can see Ian has no fear....still! Just like his dad he wants to find the best powder and zoom through the trees. Thankfully it was really steep here so I was glad to see that he slowed down a little.

Ian also likes to ski backwards like his dad. Aaron loves skiing and is doing great with his turns (when he feels like it). I think skiing has become he favorite activity -as long as it is accompanied with chocolate milk. 

Cousin Maddie showing the kids what not to do with their ski poles. I can't believe Maddie's arms did not get tired! Sweet Maddie was so excited to be skiing I think every video and picture she is excitingly waving her ski poles in the air :)

Of course after a little while the lodge does get kind of boring. So when Aaron would take a break we would do our best to keep entertained. Aaron and I had fun sending funny picture messages back and forth to my family. This one was my favorite!

When we weren't skiing we usually lounged around the house and relaxed. With the occasional movie night! Tim took this panorama of us all watching a movie. It is quite possible that Jim is actually asleep sitting up :)



A few times we headed into town. The kids spotted the carousel and had to ride. Even sweet Ava loved the carousel!

We had a great time and can't believe how fast time flew by.

 We are looking forward to seeing them in June and finally getting to meet our little niece Charlotte! I can only imagine how much fun these two girls will have together! I am sure they will just look at each other and giggle like sweet babies do :)