May

I'm not sure how May went by so quickly, but it did.  Here is what our family has been up to this month:

We headed down to St. George where Scott competed in the St. George Tri.  We were all really excited to go. It was our last trip until baby comes this summer and we love going to support Scott when he competes in Triathlons.

The kids made signs to hold as they cheered Daddy on.

 Watching the swimming

I was too slow with the camera to get pics as he passed after transitions, but here he is after crossing the finish line.

Grant was SO proud of Daddy (and the sign he made all by himself-- it says "Go Dad" )

The St. George Tri had a huge turn out, nonetheless, Scott placed 3rd in his age group and made it up to the podium! :)

We are all looking forward to the Park City Tri coming up in a couple weeks.

Last week was Sierra's Spring dance recital-- something she has been looking forward to since January.

She LOVED the idea of dancing on stage at the Covey Center-- the same place she and Scott went to watch the Nutcracker at Christmas time.  

Here are her "supportive" brothers, obviously THRILLED to sit and wait for their sister's recital to begin.

A proud Daddy with his little dancer

Grant truly was excited to watch Sierra dance.  He had his eye on a bouquet of flowers at the grocery store for a couple weeks now that he wanted to get for Sierra's recital (ok, not the SAME flowers, but pink carnations. ..).  The morning of the recital after dropping Dallin and Sierra off at school he insisted that we drive immediately to the grocery store to get the flowers before someone else picked them.

Last week I filled our big master bathtub up and let Grant bathe in it.  He took the opportunity to begin swim training for a triathlon (have I mentioned that he wants to be JUST LIKE DADDY?) and told me that my job was to cheer for him from the side of the tub.  OK, I can do that.  As he was drying off after completing the swim portion of his bath-time Tri, he informed me that he would never be able to race in a real triathlon until we took his training wheels off his bike.  He then took off running (with a rather quick PJ transition time) down the hall and did laps around the living room for the running leg of his "race".  He won.

  

Grant has been asking for MONTHS now to have his training wheels taken off.  We've been waiting for more "spring-like" weather so that he would actually be able to ride.  Saturday was the big day.  The training wheels came off, and he took off riding, full speed and never looked back (seriously, Scott was in a full sprint trying to keep up with him)-- by far the easiest first bike riding session we've had yet and he's only 4.  But, that's just Grant's personality.

Admiring his bike.  I think I've seen the same look of admiration in his daddy's eyes as he preps his bike pre-race.

After riding down the cul-de-sac twice he was ready to stand and coast on his bike like a pro-- so funny.

It's about time. . .

for another post, don't you think?  

OK.  Here we go. . .

As Spring progresses, we seem to be getting increasingly busier. Take this night in March, for example: 

I picked up the kids from school, hurriedly got homework done, had an early dinner, packed up the car and got kids ready for Dallin's 1st soccer game.  On the way to the game, we drop Dallin's pinewood derby car off at his den leader's house so she can get it a weighed in as we will be hurrying straight from the soccer field to the Pinewood derby later that evening.  The game went well. Dallin LOVED playing soccer-- he even scored a goal!  Dallin changed into his scout uniform as we drove from the soccer field to the church. We made it just in time for the races to begin.  Dallin took 2nd place overall!!!  Awesome!  Even more awesome since he did all the work himself (under the supervision of Scott, of course, but everything from the design to the cutting, sanding and painting was all him!).  After the pinewood derby I let the kids for-go bathtime (except Dallin, he played an intense game of soccer and is beginning to smell like a boy. . .ewww) and go straight to bed.

Rock paper scissors for the kick off

Freezing Grant and Sierra

Post Game-- hurrying to Pinewood Derby

Dallin and his winning pickup truck!  He even set a track record!

In other happenings, we had Spring Break a couple weeks ago.  Sadly, we had no fantastic vacation or pricey outings planned.  So, I had to get creative.  As General Conference had just concluded and one of the themes the kids had noticed was "temples", I decided to run with that.  So, we created "temple passports" using $1 photo albums and planned to visit the nearby temples during the week.  It was a great success.  We had a lot of fun and I think the kids walked away with a greater love for our temples.  Here was our schedule:

Monday:  Each child picked out a picture of  a temple to the hang in their room, and we created our temple passports.

Tuesday:  Went to see Oquirrh Mountain Temple and The Jordan River Temple

At each temple the kids had a page in their passports to write/draw notes or observations.

Here iss Grant taking a moment at the Oquirrh Mountain temple to write down what he sees/feels.

Dallin at the Jordan River Temple

Wednesday:  Went to see the Draper Temple and Bountiful Temple on our way to our cousins' house

Thursday:  Went to the Provo Temple and the Mount Timpanogos temple

Grant looking up at the Mount Timpanogos temple (we forgot his jacket, so he was wrapped in Trent's blanket for warmth)

Friday:  Went to the Salt Lake temple and spent the day at Temple Square.

The museum of church art and history has a fun new children's exhibit!  Dallin and Sierra built a temple out of large blocks.

Our picnic lunch at Temple Square

And lastly,

here are some pictures of the kids on Easter Sunday.  None of them turned out well, but none the less, here they are:

Trent's face perfectly illustrates the enthusiasm our kids had for this Easter Sunday pre-church photo shoot

Really?!?  Are they ALL blinking?

Our House

I laugh whenever I think of how different "The Rice Paddy" must be from other homes. Our family dynamics and the personalities in our family definitely create a unique atmosphere-- just like every home I suppose.  Trent has become quite a "helper" in the kitchen.  He LOVES to clean, and is a pretty good mopper.  He also LOVES to help me cook (and taste test).  While making dinner this evening I looked over to see my sweet boy setting the table!!  Yes, there was quite an assortment of dishes and silverware, but I didn't even ask him to help and he was very proud of himself.

Daily, wrestling matches breakout.  It usually begins as a showoff contest. . . seeing who can do the coolest karate kick and then it turns into wrestle mania in my living room.  Here is a funny conversation that occurred this evening during such a wrestling match:

Dallin:  Watch this! (Does a nifty karate kick)

Grant:  Oh yeah, watch this! (Does a jump-kick)

Dallin:  Oh yeah, let me see your best chicken kick!

Sierra (my sweet little dancer):  That's nothing!  Show me your best Fifth Position!

That is when I look up to see Sierra in perfect Ballet form in fifth position, with her Daddy and brothers trying to imitate her (in all seriousness).  Oh, where oh where was my camera!?!?!

Boys

So, for those of you who haven't heard:  "The ultrasound showed that baby #5 will be boy #4."  (that was Scott's Facebook status as of this afternoon).  Scott and I are still laughing about it.  We're both totally excited. Our house is a whole lot of ROUGH AND TUMBLE with just enough DRAMA to make things interesting.  I must say I think I kind of wished this on myself.  I've always LOVED mischievous and rowdy little boys. . . they've got spunk!  I think it's funny how "boys will be boys" even from a young age.  Below are some examples from this week:

Grant:  Ok, for any of you that know this boy you KNOW he's got personality.  He is, well. . . LOUD. . . ALWAYS.  (which is funny because he was my quietest baby).  When Grant is quiet, you need to be worried. Tuesday afternoon he was especially quiet.  During this "quiet time" he sneaked into his brother's room and completely disassembled a Lego spaceship that took Dallin hours to construct over Christmas.  Oh you bet there was DRAMA when Dallin arrived home from school, but (here's what I LOVE about boys) Grant had built a new ship as a peace offering to Dallin and before you knew it, Dallin was admiring the cool ship Grant had built and they were playing together building with Legos.  Boys:  They have their disagreements and fights and then move on. . . I love it.

Trent: The funniest thing in the world to Trent right now are body noises (think farts, burps. . .) and he's only 18 months old!  He even tries to pass gas and then belly laughs because he thinks it's hysterical.  Yep, he's a boy.

Dallin:  Dallin comes home from school nearly everyday with a new song or joke that involves some sort of body / potty humor.  I've lost count how many times I've been asked to spell " I CUP" or had to listen to a song about Scooby-doo (since we all know that "poo" is the obvious rhyming word).  Here's my favorite from this week:

The scene:  I am in the kitchen sweeping up all the Cheese Nips Trent poured out on the kitchen floor and Dallin walks in.  With a completely straight face the following verbal exchange occurs:

Dallin:  "Hey, Mom, I'm gonna need a new bum." (My first thought--  at least he said "bum")

Me: "What?" (completely confused)

Dallin:  "Ya, mine's got a crack in it." (HUGE smile as he exits with his soccer ball to go outside.)

I can only imagine what he future holds for our growing family.  Sierra and I will be largely out numbered. . . and I'm completely looking forward to it! :)

Front row seats at the Jazz Game, not a bad date.  We could have gotten closer but I didn't have my basketball shoes with me.  Turns out the Jazz got the win without me anyway.

A Post

My creative juices are NOT flowing-- obviously I couldn't even come up with a good title for this post.  Regardless, I decided it has been long enough since my last post, and before I get too far behind I should at least acknowledge that Christmas came and it is a new year.  Here are some pics of what's been going on around here over the last month or so:

First:  SNOW

Dallin in the backyard

Trent adoring Daddy

Grant helping himself to a snowy snack

Our snowman

 Up Next:  CHRISTMAS

Goodies we gave to friends 

 PS.  Look closely at Sierra.  She's missing her two front teeth-  how appropriate for Christmas time!  That song was sung around our house nearly every day by our little toothless princess 

Christmas Day-- opening stockings

At toothbrush and BANDAIDS (boy does Santa know Grant!!!)

Trent helping himself to some chocolate (with the wrapper still on. . . apparently removing the packaging is optional)

Dallin drew Trent's name this year and was excited to make him his little drum at scouts-- Trent loves it!

The damage. . .

Dallin. . . looking more like a tween everyday-- hoodie on and ipod in the ears-- this image makes me laugh!

Grandma and Grandpa gave Sierra a cake decorating kit.  Here she is hard at work. . .

The final product!  I think she did a great job!

Lastly:  The new year (no pics of this one)

We're looking forward to what 2011 will bring for our family.  Here are the top 3 exciting happenings that I wrote in my planner:

September 2011:  My 30th B-day!!!   I suppose it is a bit strange that I'm looking forward to being the big 3-0, but I feel that my age has FINALLY caught up to my lifestyle!  (I've been a mom driving a mini van since I was 21, and a mom of 2 when I was 22. . .you get the idea)

December 2011:  Scott and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary!  I think that is something to celebrate, although our dreams of finally having a honeymoon (we've been saying that we'd finally take one for our 10th anniversary. . .) will have to be postponed due to our third exciting event (see below)

July 2011 (I know, I'm not going in chronological order, but I've saved the best for last!):  We will welcome another baby into our family!  That's right folks, 5 kids, before I'm thirty and before our 10th wedding anniversary. . .now that's efficient! :)