Tyler's Baptism

Years of preparation finally came to a close and now we begin a whole new chapter in raising our oldest. Tyler was baptized April 10, 2010. After fasting and prayer he made the decision that this was the right choice for him. I'm so proud of the choices he's made and his decision to be baptized. We were lucky enough to have all grandparents there for it as Brian's parents were in town attending a BYU dance team reunion. Brian's mom, Diane danced with the BYU traveling dance team performing in all sorts of competitions including Blackpool. I was lucky enough to get to join her in the friday night performance of the current BYU dance teams. It was amazing and I'm so grateful for my mother-in-laws willingness to share the evening with me instead of Doug!

We had a great turnout for the baptism with family and friends. The room was so filled with love and our wonderful bishop was so great in his talk, pointing out to Tyler that everyone was there because they love and care about him. It was really special.

Here we are with our dude. Tyler just looked so grown up that day!

Ok so the hug from Jake was a little forced, but he didn't argue about it, maybe we are on the road to making better choices already!

I might point out that I was wearing 3 inch heels and Tyler was slouching. That's why he looks shorter than I am. Those of you who see us in real life know this picture isn't quite accurate......

My handsome boys. We clean up pretty good. You'd never know these were the three guys that putter around my home in ratty jeans and baseball hats.

Turning Eight

It's happened, I've reached one of those big mommy milestones, My oldest turned eight. I may be a little partial, but doesn't he look handsome in his scout uniform?

Tyler lucked out for scouts, the space derby (pinewood derby with rockets instead of cars) landed on the day before his birthday so he got to participate. He was so excited! The rocket got painted red with a lot of help from grandpa in his workshop. Tyler won 2nd place! His rocket was super fast.

He's been looking forward to scouts for a really long time. It doesn't help the anxious waiting when his mom and dad are the scout leaders for the 8 year olds. We're excited to have Tyler officially joining our group!

Precious moments

This is one of those moments that are rare these days. Upon growing as tall as his mom, reaching first grade and becoming "cool" I don't find Tyler looking to cuddle with me much. Part is of this is due to logistics, how do you hold a child that is the same length as you? Whose arms can circle your waist one and a half times if arms did that sort of thing?

The answer is, just like this. I was sitting on the couch, minding my own business and here comes my to-cool-for-this-nonsense kid. And he just climbs up and chills with me for a record 30 minutes. Best 30 minutes I've had with this kid in a long time. I started thinking about how I would have given anything to have 30 minutes without having to hold Ty when he was a baby. My how time changes things.

Ty's birthday

I'm finally getting around to blogging! After that whole cake fiasco I was very "over" Tyler's birthday. I'm finally having happy feelings about it all again, so here is the final cake result. Now mind you, this was not the cake I had designed and planned for. The cake I had designed and planned for was the uber cool creation of cake, frosting and fondant that was going to take me a few hours to put together. About 1 1/2 hours into THAT cake some friends stopped by, as we were talking in the kitchen I hear Bethany let out a slight gasp. I turn, to find Jake has reached up and grabbed a huge chunk out of the giant lego cake I had just painstakingly smoothed fondant over. (Mind you, I still had several hours worth left to do, so I was already pretty exhausted) I simply removed the cake from his hand, washed it, removed his glasses and escorted him to bed. At 7. In silence. Mommy done. I think the only reason I restrained the tears was because there were other people in the house.

So after all that ra-ra, I sat down in the toy room and devised a new plan. Toys on the cake. I hate toys on cakes, I think it's a cop-out. And frankly, I'm okay with that this year. I think it turned out to be a pretty dang cool cop-out if you ask me.

I went for Indiana Jones theme; and yes, I built those props all by myself. We've got a tent, a picnic table with lantern, map, walkie and cocoa cup. We've got Indie himselft and dear old dad, who is holding a shovel next to recently dug up buried treasure. I had a much better picture, but for some reason blogger won't let me stick it up.

The party was at Classic skating this year. We picked up 7 little boys and escorted them to a night of bouncing, laser tag and pizza. It was wild to say the least. I have to say this, Tyler has some awesome friends. I love each of these kids like family, so it was really fun. This picture has a couple of strangers in it, but for the most part you get the idea.

This picture disturbed me. Ty looks really handsome in it. And a little older. :.(

There they all are! Top row we've got Josh A., Tyler M. Hayden P. Bottom row: Gabe C. Our Tyler, Eric, and Jakey. The boys had a blast! All in all, it was a terrific birthday.

Caught the reading bug

This week I introduced Tyler to the idea of reading chapter books without me around. There hasn't been any problem with him reading picture books to Jake or himself, but for some reason he doesn't want to read chapter books without someone next to him.

I brought a "beginner" chapter book home for him to try out. Not being sure what to expect, I thought it would probably take a couple of days for him to finish it. Not so.

Tyler got right to work reading, first out loud to me while I did the dishes. Then he wandered away and I found him curled up on my bed reading to himself. Once Jake got wind of a book being read, he wanted in on the action. Fortunatly Tyler was in a "be nice to my brother" mood and invited Jake to chill with him while he read out loud. I couldn't resist a few pictures. (Which also gives you a sneak preview of the bedroom which I will add more to when it's closer to finished!)

This book was done in roughly an hour. We've decided to move on to chapter books with no pictures, since Tyler thought this was kind of easy and a "little kid book". I'm not sure what he means by that, but I'm willing to look for something a little harder, maybe we'll move straight to War and Peace......just kidding, For Whom the Bell tolls will be hard enough! ;)

Tyler's first Jazz game

So I've finally taken Tyler to his first Jazz game. He loved every minute of it! I thought it was pretty funny that the first time a basket was made he didn't realize it was worth more than 1 point.

I had the pleasure of explaining all the ins and outs of basketball. I think he loves the sport even more now that he knows it's not just running around and trying to make a shot.

It was especially fun, since the tickets came from his junior jazz program, that he was there with all his team which included his best friend Tyler.

We were in the nosebleed seats, which was slightly frustrating for me, but he didn't know any different. He enjoyed it so much I think a game in the good seats is probably not out of the question, we'll see.

Here's us in our Jazz shirts. He really wanted to wear his white side out because it was a home game. Very cute I thought. We pigged out on Pizza, Cotton Candy and Ice cream and the jazz one, so it was a perfect night.

The tigers

It's soccer season again!! Tyler is spending this season in heaven. He made it on the same team as his best friend in the whole world, Tyler Mauchley. And to his great surprise, the love of his life, meagan also is on the team. This is the two Tyler's kicking it around before a game.
Tyler played defender this last game. He was AWESOME!! He saved the ball 5 times with his amazing shoelace kicks! We were so proud of him and how hard he worked to protect that goal!
Running hard! This team is predominantly girls, so I think sometimes the boys feel like there's something to prove. Nothing gets a boy running faster than a girl trying to beat him!
Although he does have some scruples in that he doesn't like to kick the ball away from a girl. Especially when he thinks he might kick her in the shins. We keep trying to tell him, they signed up for soccer, they expect to get kicked!
And it wouldn't be complete without mentioning Tom. Who is the best soccer coach I've ever seen. He has done wonders with these kids and always remembers the point of the game while still helping motivate them to do their best.

First Day of School

Finally! I've found the cord for the camera to get some pictures on here! This is Tyler on his first day of school. He was so excited to wear his Indiana Jones shirt. Not to mention the pride in taking his lunch to school in his Camo lunch box!

His teacher is Miss Neilson. She is just incredible! We went and met her two days before the first day, and he just adored her. I think it's going to be a good start!

A Real mommy.....again

So this morning I had a "real mommy" moment. Those moments when you think to yourself, "wow, I guess I'm a real mom now."

This morning I packed my first school lunch. Yes, thanks to year round school, I have sent my oldest child into the world until 3:30. As I was putting mayo on bread, I was reflecting over the many "mommy" moments I've had in the last 6 years. So because this is the only record I keep of our family, I am going to record them here. For those of you adverse to sappy, this might not be the post for you to read.

My first mommy moment came when I had my face peed on by a newborn. I distinctly remember thinking, "wow, this is really my baby". At the time, I'm sure I thought that would be the last and most important time of experiencing that feeling. It was official, I was a mom. However, as the years fly by, I am realizing that not only have I had many of those moments, but I will have many more. So, without further adieu, the mommy moments.

1. Getting peed on
2. The first night I had to stay up all night, worrying about a sick child and wondering when exactly you call the doctor on call.
3. The first time little arms wrapped around my neck out of sadness.
4. When they switched from calling me mama or mommy, for the slightly more demanding, MOM.
5. The first peanut butter sandwich I cut the crusts off. (Which I have never done since, seriously, if they don't want the dang crust, then can tear it off themselves!)
6. The first soccer Saturday, which lawn chairs, snacks, and a parka, because it was snowing.
7. Crying in the car on the way home from dropping my first off at Kindergarten.
8. Going downstairs, at midnight, to warn those kids, AGAIN, that if they didn't turn off those lights and go to bed, there would be serious trouble.
9. Going downstairs at 12:03 and taking the light bulbs out of their lights so they had no choice but to go to sleep.
10. The first time I realized, why in the world would I clean the house everyday? It's just going to get messy again tomorrow. A good clean twice a week is plenty.
11. And today, which, as always, feels like the pinnacle of mom-ness, I made a school lunch. I packed it in a lunch box and sent it into the world with my once very small baby.

I know there will be many more mom moments to come, but each one feels like a milestone that is a crowning victory for making it through baby-hood, or toddler-hood, or whatever stage we have just come out of. They are some small way to measure the days and years of my life right now. Although trivial to some, to me it signifies a life worth living. That a couple of cookies and a juice box can indicate to me that we are moving forward is a wonderful thing. The mommy moments help me focus on the little things in life, and all those little things make up a big thing, happiness.

The cake

Here is my latest cake creation...the tank! I loved making this cake, although getting the shape of the tank just right was a little nerve wracking. The kids at the party loved it! No one had ever seen a tank cake before, and I could tell Tyler was pretty proud of his cake.

Tyler's 6th Birthday

Tyler loves army men so much, he wanted an army birthday party. So we decided on marshmellow guns, face paint, bandanas and tattoos. Yes, the mothers just loved me! The boys went on a scavenger hunt to get "outfitted" for their war games. They found their bandanas first, then the face paints, then tattoos, and finally, marshmellow guns made from PVC pipe. We supplied them with "ammo" (mini marshmallows) and let them shoot each other for most of the party!
Here are the troops in full gear and ready to roll.
This is what we lovingly refer to as the Tylers. This is our Tyler's best friend, Tyler. These guys are the best of buddies and really make a great pair. They play well, are nice to each other and siblings and basically make life a lot easier for everyone when they are together!
This was Tyler's crazy face, he was very intent on "destroying the enemy". This really was a fun birthday. And easy too! the kids just ran around the backyard all day! You can't ask for more than that!