I can't fit it in right now!

I have an opportunity to go to school and have my tuition paid, but the stipulation is that I have to go by Sept 30th 2010. This stipulation was put out there last year at this time, but I was in the middle of the worst pregnancy I have had and there was no way I could take on school. Pregnancy obviously followed by new born baby and all the adjustments and emotional roller coaster that comes with it...again no way I could even think about it...stress!!! Now the year is up and every time I look for a class on the school websites I have anxiety and stress! I don't know how to fit it into my schedule. I am on my HOA board and the PTO board at the kids school. Then trying to work around Chad's work schedule and the still young baby who I can only leave for about 2 hours at a time. Add Girls scouts and boy scouts and meetings and helping each child with homework let alone adding my own! I can hardly handle it now and the thought of adding school to it all...I just cant do it! It makes me want to cry just thinking about it. I don't know what I want to study and I have been out of school for 17 years. I did home school and finished when I was 16. I wouldn't even know where to start and if would count for anything because I would have to take such low level classes to get back into the swing of things. Chad tries to encourage me because he doesn't want me to miss out on this great opportunity, but If I'm going to remain sane this year I just can't do it. I know there are plenty of people out there who would say I can work it out, fit it in, suck it up, I shouldn't be doing the other volunteer things I'm doing. But for the sake of my mental well being, the sake of my children and my family I sadly let this opportunity pass. I can still go back to school one day, but I'll have to keep my original plan of going when the kids are in school and I'll just have to pay for it myself. That is not the end of the world, I hate that have to let this great gift go because I appreciate the importance of education. I go back and forth, even as I write this I tell myself, I just need to do it, I just have to get through it. I don't know, maybe ill try and go down to the college and see if they have anything I can fit with my schedule.

Happy 4th

Sept. 9th. Cameron's birthday fell on a Thursday this year. I had enrichment meeting hat night and luckily I got released from my calling in Relief Society the week before so I was able to remember him and not be running around crazy trying to get ready for an enrichment meeting.
My mom was so sweet and thoughtful and sent a card for him and a cake. I don't know why I never thought to make him a birthday cake, but the kids loved it and I think we will make him a cake every year now.

We did our annual tradition of writing on and releasing balloons.

Aiden didn't like that his balloon was floating away and kept saying he wanted to go get it.

Happy 4th Cameron!!

He cut it

I was cutting Chad's hair the other day and Aiden was playing on the table with all the hair cutting stuff. After I was done and packing it all away i came across a lock of blond hair! He cut it of from the front, but I can hardly tell.
I think Casey is the only other kid of ours who has cut his hair.

Tadpoles!!!

A frog laid eggs in a big puddle in one of the green belts near our house.for a few days the kids went and caught some for their teachers and themselves. One day when Casey went to see the tadpoles the puddle was almost all evaporated and the tadpoles were running out of water, I think it was mostly mud. Casey ran home to get more water and a container and he brought home this container with about an inch of mud, and inch of water and hundreds of squirming tadpoles! He said they were all going to die and he had to save them. He dug through he mud and saved every tadpole he could find!
so we got a bigger tub and dumped a bunch a water in it and then in went the tadpoles. I tried to get a shot of them, but it was hard with the dirty water.

His teacher had read that they need something to climb onto so that when they turn into frogs they can climb out of the water or else they will die. We added some sticks and a brick and they did indeed begin climbing out of the water in the next couple of days.

Chad cleaned the water a bit by taking out the dirty water and adding clean water, so now you can see them a little better. All the dark are tadpoles and or itty bitty frogs.

By the time they were turning into frogs we decided they had to go. They were starting to climb the sides of the tub and I didn't want baby frogs escaping into my house! We figured they would die out in the green belt since it was all dry by now and we still had quite a few tadpoles too, so we decided to take them to the city pond and let them go there.

It was hard to get a picture of them, but i got a picture of a couple as they were hopping around by the water.

Some of the tadpoles were getting eaten by fish, but we figured it was survival of the fittest at this point, circle of life and all that.

V.I.P

As I have mentioned before, Chad spends a lot of time out at the RC track. Luckily he takes the boys with him when he goes. They love going and they work while they are out there. They help out and Marshal (Flip cars over after they have rolled) and they help out in other various ways. When the series ended this season the guys at the track voted and they voted Casey and Tyler VIPs for the season! I happened to be there that night and when they called my boys names I cried a little, they were so excited. They called them up and gave them a plaque and everything.
And even cooler.....they gave them each a short course car to race!!!! This is quite a huge prize and I can't even begin to tell you how excited they were and still are. They love to tell people all about their cars and their experience with them. They gave them the cars before the race so that they could participate and while they came in 11th and 12th out of 12 racers they had a blast! since it was the end of the season they have been anxiously awaiting the start of the new season so they can get out there and get more racing under their belts.

Thank you to the Nitro Pit and all the guys out there who appreciate the help that the boys have been able to offer. Thanks for the experience they are getting in serving and the responsibility they are experiencing.

Hyashi

I have always wanted to go to one of those places where they cook the food right in front of you. Ive even watched a competition on Food Network were the competitors had to cook veggies, do trick with an egg and build a volcano out of an onion. Well we got one of those restaurants here in Surprise! I was so excited to go. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, but when we left I called my parent who were going to be coming into town the next week and told them we had to go back! So when they came we took them. It is called Hyashi and it is so fun! The cooks are funny and quite entertaining and the food is good. I love the fried rice! I got a couple of pictures, but mostly I forgot to take them i was having to much fun. maybe next time I will remember to get some better pictures, like the onion volcano or something. By the way if any one here want to go Chad and I split a meal and there is a splitting fee, but we were stuffed when we got our own and just fine when we split, we recommend the Fillet Mignon.

First day of school

The kids started school on Aug. 9th. I didn't get as many pictures as I usually do this year. I'm volunteering as Vice President on the the PTO board this year and we were selling t-shirts and stuff on the first day, so short of walking Court to her class, i was otherwise engaged. The boys were fine heading off to class on there own. They spent the last week of summer hanging out at the school and Helping teachers get classes organised.
Casey went into 5th grade this year. He has Mrs Maloney for his teacher this year. She was his 3rd grade teacher and we are excited to have her again.

Tyler has Mrs Barter for 3rd grade. She was a 5th grade teacher last year, so we have never had her before. She is one of the teachers he was able to help as school approached so he got a chance to meet her and talk to her before school was in and he thought she was very nice and was looking forward to having her a s his teacher.

Courtney is starting 1st grade this year. She has Mrs Rockey who was Tyler's 1st grade teacher, but she is in her first trimester of pregnancy and is severely sick so she has a long term sub and will hopefully be retuning to class mid Sept. Till then Mrs Diaz is Courtney's teacher.

On August 2nd my little boy rolled over. That's it.....its all done from here. He is starting those mile stones that mean he is growing up. I don't like it!! It is not fair that they grow up to fast! What does that make him 3 months and rolling....to fast I tell you, to fast. Before I know it he will be crawling.

Oh My Goodness, how cute can it get?!

One day a friend of mine had Aiden with her when she went to the store. I was asleep when they got home, but aparently while they were a tthe store they found these towels and she just had to buy them for her doughter and Aiden. Cound they be any cuter than that!!!

Colorado

One of the happy things to come out of daddy being injured is that his leave from work happened to coincide with his families trip to Colorado. We were not going to go due to vacation hours, but then since he was not going to be at work anyway....we figured why not go. So off we went on the longest 8 hour drive of our lives. Why was it so long, we have no idea, but it felt like it took forever!! it could have been partly because it probably one of the ugliest drives we have ever taken. pardon the pictures that i took through the window of the car, but after Chad commented on how ugly it was I had to get some pictures to show.

Yup, pretty ugly. The kids did get a kick out of the rock formations and wanted to know how they were formed. That is when Casey started telling us all about how he learned this kind of stuff in 4th grade and that Tyler would indeed learn it when he grew to be as old and wise as Casey.

And then ugly turned into beauty!!! We arrived in Colorado and the kids were even more impressed with all the green and the trees. they then wanted to know who planed all those trees all over the mountain, there was so many!! I told them heavenly Father made all that ( I know he made the ugly drive too, but lets focus on the pretty )

Some of the high lights of our drive were the Sonic the actually had and inside dining area, not something we are used to. They were so happy to get out of the car.

Can you tell how excited daddy was? he took some time to elevate his booted foot.

The high light or should I say un-highlight of the drive is that we decided to stop at 4 corners. I kept talking it up to my oh so mature and wise graduated from 4th grade educated son. He was very excited and impressed that he would be able to stand in 4 states at once and how he would go back to school in Aug and go tell his old teacher all about it.....unfortunately when we showed up to our little detour....it was closed! yup closed! We were able to view it from a far, it's somewhere in there, beyond the chain link fence.

The best were able to do was take a picture by the sign of the planed remodel of the sight. Major let down! :(

So we finally arrived in Beautiful Colorado and it was that, beautiful. We went to church in a little town called Silverton. The church building was a single hallway with about 5 rooms off of it and the chapel at the end. It happened to be branch conference and so there were actually a good 45 people there as apposed to the normal 5 that have been in attendance the other times family has visited. They puled together an impromptu primary and nursery for our kids. IT was great. After Church we stopped at Anderson Lake for some pictures. The kids had a great time throwing rocks in the lake and almost hitting a few people in the process.

Look at the beautiful surroundings! I love it :)

On another day we went for a walk near the condo we were staying in. I had to get a picture of these cool trees. I loved them, they made me think of the sacred Grove.

Chad insisted he could could go for a bit of the walk. you cant see the water, but he was posing as a fountain. He walked for a bit, but we had to split from the group and go back before to long.

also near the condo was an area with hotels and shops. While checking out the cute little shops we found some cute bennie hats and had to get some shots of Brody in one.

Also up the hill is an alpine slide. the kids had a blast going down the slide. You would take the ski lift up the mountain and then slide down on these bobsled type things. It was hard to get a picture with my camera and the timing, but I got a few.

Grandpa took Aiden a couple of times, till Aiden got it his head that he wanted to go on the trampolines that we had passed on our way up there. they were the bungee type. I still have to get pictures from Terri Anne, but he did get to go and he loved it! I went on too and there is video at the end of this post of my experience.

The boys brought there bikes and got to ride on this little track they had laid out.

Aiden had his birthday while we were there, so we took his presents up with us. He got a buzz light year toy, buzz jammies and some hot wheel cars and a carrying case.

He even shared with his cousin and I caught them playing cars on the bed.

Instead of cake I made rice crispy treats for him. He still got to blow out the candles.

It was a long day for him and he put himself to bed. I found him crashed in the bed. awww

One day we headed in to town (Durango) to go to the community center. They had a huge climbing wall.....

and a big indoor pool area. complete with play area, high dive, hot tub and more.

Even a big slide.

It took a lot of bribing and coaxing to get Courtney to go down the slide, but by the end of our time there she was going all by her self.

We had lots of fun. Were there from Saturday night to Thursday morning. the kids loved spending so much time with thier cousins and I loved getting out of the heat! It was so beatiful there and we even got some rain storms, I loved rain storms!!