Family History - I Am Doing It!

It's been a while since I have worked on the 48.000+ name in my genealogy program.  I have absolutely no clue how my mom managed to research, find and enter that many names.  I know she worked on it for close to 20 years but still that is a lot of names.

I opened up my RootsMagic program this morning and didn't quit until well after lunch time.  Then I had to take kids to a dentist appointment, take Kim to dance and go to back to school night.  So once again another productive day without getting much done on the house. (At least I got dozens of name submitted to Family Search so their temple work can be done)

There's always tomorrow...

Bradley is one of the sweetest boys around.  After dinner he gave me a huge hug and told me thanks for making such a good dinner.  At Back to School night tonight there was a little booklet he had made sitting on his desk called ABC's of Me!  It made me smile.  Here are a few of the highlights.

K - If I were KING of the world I would - do nothing because I like my life like it is.
H- My HOPE for this year is - I get no cavities.
M - If I had a MILLION dollars I would - donate it to people.
N - I will NEVER - kick my mom and dad - because - I'll get in trouble and I love them.

We love you too Bradley! Thanks for being such a great kid!

Pinewood Derby

Pinewood Derby came and went with only 1 good picture.  I spent the night helping run the event so didn't have the chance to get any pictures.  Brian snapped this one of Bradley at the finish line.

Next year will be our 9th and final Pinewood Derby.

Blue & Gold Banquet

Bradley delivering a singing telegram as part of a skit at Blue & Gold Banquet.

The annual Blue & Gold Banquet is one of my favorite pack meetings... because I don't have to cook dinner that night.

Bradley's Birthday Party

The boys had a great time having pizza at the park and then going minature golfing.

Happy Birthday Bradley

 Rock Climbing & Swimming at Washington City Center.

 Happy Birthday Bradley!

Omelets, Pirate Island Pizza & Mac & Cheese

On birthday the kids get to pick their meals. Bradley chose omelets, the buffet at Pirate Island Pizza and Mac & Cheese.  Yum!

Dinosaur Museum

We've lived here for 6.5 years and I've never been to the Dinosaur museum.  Kylie has been begging to go so we finally went.  Bradley and Kylie had fun. 

Desert Hills Basketball

Bryce & Bradley both played basketball as part of a Desert Hills Skills League.  I'm slowly learning to be a sports mom.  I do enjoy watching them play.

Storytelling Festival

Kim & Brad told stories at the storytelling festival at the elementary school on Wednesday.

We forgot out flip video so tried to take video on an old camera. Not very good quality.

Bradley gets his Wolf

At Pack Meeting on Wednesday night Bradley received his Wolf Badge. Way to go Brad! I'm not sure why the picture is so yellow. I do know why Bradley's hair is sticking straight up, it was crazy hair day at school.

Crazy Hair Day

Red Ribbon week at the elementary school means it's Crazy Hair Day for Brad & Kim.




Too bad Bryce's School isn't doing crazy hair day... he's been growing his hair long and was hoping to have a crazy hair day so he could cut only part of it off.

Made by Brad

It's always interesting when I upload pictures to see what the kids have taken pictures of. Often there are various upclose pictures of body parts from nostrils to earlobes to elbows. Or pictures of random things around the house or yard. At least with digital cameras they can take all the pictures they want and I can just delete them. This morning I found aliens made by Brad on the camera.

Art & Music Night

Thursday night the elementary school had an Arts & Music night where art was displayed and each grade sang a few songs. It was fun to watch Kim & Brad perform.

Pack Meeting

Bradley is such a fun kid to have. He loved life and finds such joy and excitement in little things. His happy-go-lucky spirit makes mundane things enjoyable. He was thrilled to receive his first yellow bead and lead the group in a cheer of his choosing - It's a bird, it's a plane -- it's a bird.

Welcome Hershey

Confession I am neither a pet lover nor a sports lover. Nothing wrong with either but neither is at the top of my list.

That said let me tell you about my day.

Bryce is playing Border League Basketball and they had 2 games today. One at 11:00 and a second one at 1:00. Not enough time in between to be worth going home so that ended up being 3 1/2 hours out of my day being the good, supportive mom taking Bryce to his games and out to eat in between. (I'm not actually really complaining and I don't regret that time, I enjoyed watching Bryce play!)

While I was gone to the games Brian and Kim had a father daughter talk and somehow Kim convinced Brian that she needed a bunny rabbit. The big softie that Brian is he caved and agreed. Thus we are the proud owners of a bunny rabbit named Hershey.

Alas what can I say when they have such big smiles on their faces and are so happy other than Welcome Hershey! Perhaps my children will make me both a pet lover and a sports lover before my life is over.

And hopefully Hershey fares better than our previous pets.

Blue & Gold Banquet

Last night was the Cubscout Blue & Gold Banquet. Bradley made this poster for the banquet and is proudly standing by it while chowing on his sloppy joe.

What have I done....

In the last General Conference President Monson gave a talk called What Have I Done For Someone Today? We put a sign on the wall by our kitchen table that asked that question.

This morning at breakfast I looked up to see that our sign had changed:

I burst out laughing as did the rest of the family when I showed them the new sign.
Brett is so funny. He usually doesn't have much to say but he has a great sense of humor and often says and does things that make us laugh.
Now on to Kylie. Lately we've been playing a lot of CandyLand. Since it is Kylie's game we play by her rules. First rule - She get the deck of cards ready and she goes first. Miraculously the first card she draws is always the "Lilypop" (aka Lollipop). We then take turns as normal but if she draws any other picture card such as the gingerbread man which would make her go backwards she declares that she's skipping her turn. And since it's her game it's ok for her to skip her turn. Thus Kylie always wins and usually wins quite quickly.

Can I just tell you that life has been wonderful this week. I think I figured out the reason why: We have been going to bed early every night and thus getting enough sleep. Why the need for change? Brett had not been getting enough sleep lately. He had been staying up late to study and then going to bed way too late and then had to get up early for seminary. He is an incredibly light sleep and wakes up at every little noise. The consequence of this was after weeks of not enough sleep he was a walking zombie. I honestly thought he had mono or something physical causing his extreme fatigue. A trip to the doctor this week and some lab work showed nothing so we were told to give him Benadryl at night to knock him out. We started doing bedtime at 8:00 so everyone was downstairs and settled with lights out by 9:00 thus giving Brett the chance to get enough sleep. What a difference not only in the kids but in me as well. I've been getting 8 hours of sleep each night and the younger kids have actually been waking up on their own fully rested. Yes I know bedtimes are important but I guess I never realized just how important and what a difference it makes when EVERYONE gets enough sleep. Our home is a happier more pleasant place this week with kids that are less ornery and it's actually cleaner because I have the energy to clean and be a good mom.
Last night I guess Bradley said it best. It was his turn for a date this week and I took him to Wal-mart. On the way home he said - I'm glad it was my turn for a date today because you are so happy today. It's amazing what a difference sleep makes!

Bradley's Pinewood Derby

Bradley leading the pledge of allegiance at Pack Meeting.

Getting his car ready to race.

Waiting at the finish line.

Bradley had a great car. He and Brian spent a long time working on it.

Cub Scouts

We are starting our last 3 years of Pack Meetings. We've already had 3 years with Brett & 3 years with Bryce so it will be 9 years total by the time we're done. Bradley's first pack meeting was 2 weeks ago and boy was he excited! He earned his Bobcat. I did get to the scout store to buy him a shirt since I realized too late for Pack Meeting that I don't know what happened to the shirt Brett & Bryce wore.

Bradley's Baptism

What a wonder day we had yesterday. Bradley was baptized and confirmed by his dad. You have never seen a child as excited to be baptized as Bradley! Congratulations Bradley we are so proud of you.

Yesterday afternoon we had quite a surprise when our front door opened and in walked Mike, Wendy, Spencer, Preston, Tanner and Emily. They had driven down from Highland for Bradley's baptism. The kids were so excited!

Following the baptism we came back t our house for treats. We had a snack buffet and Mike made a chocolate buttermilk cake! YUM!

We put together a puzzle and sat around a talked until 11:30. It was an enjoyable evening.