First Day Of Kindergarten..."MOM IT WAS AWESOME"

Tavin started Kindergarten on Friday and he was so ready for it! When we went to meet his teacher the week before, she gave us a special note to open the night before the first day of school. It was special confetti that you sprinkled under your pillow and over your bed so that you would sleep well and have good dreams about school for the next day. He was all about sprinkling the magic confetti EVERYWHERE-he even woke up with it in his hair. Katie thought it was awesome too and got to put some under her pillow-she said it was magic fairy dust.

 His Aunt Chrissy and his cousins Madison and Brendon have not started school yet so they got up bright and early to come over and see him off on his first day. They brought him special chocolate cereal-which we don't have at our house-and a new first day outfit. He looked so handsome.

 Grandma and Grandpa also came to walk him to school-it is just down the street from our house. He was happy to have them there. Can you tell he is excited!

 First day of school lucky kiss from Grandma

 Superheroes back pack

 East Lake Elementary School-here comes Tavin!

 Him and his very proud parents

 His teacher-Ms. Sperry-She is new this year and seems to have a lot of good ideas/very organized. I have great hopes for her and think she will be a perfect teacher for Tavin. Chrissy mentioned she looks like she is straight out of High School-but I am glad to get someone who is excited and energetic about teaching.

 Waiting -lining up for class

Getting a last kiss goodbye and an "I love you Tavin Boy!" from mom. I know he will do great-I have no worries whatsoever. It is mommy who was sad to see him go-just because it means he is growing older-time is passing-time that I will never relive again. I was happy he still thought it was cool for me to give him a kiss though-he even blew me one right before he went inside. It helped my heart to be OK:) When I picked him up-I don't think he stopped talking from the minute he got to me until we walked in the door at home. He was so very excited to tell me that his school has it's own library! And that he made a book in class. He also told me they do this cool thing where his teacher says 1, 2, 3-eyes on me! And then he and his classmates get to say: 1,2,3 eyes on you! :) And of course he made a friend with the girl that sits next to him. He said he liked her because she made monkey sounds with him when they were taping a picture of a monkey on the books they made in class! And so it begins-the long road of education-I don't think he really knows what he has gotten himself into;) One day I will have to remind him that he wanted to go to school and loved being there-but until that day comes-I will enjoy watching him jump for joy when he gets to go.

Arts and Crafts...What We Do to Stay Out of the Heat

 As I mentioned before, there have been quite a few days that the weather has been super hot! In the 100's. On days we aren't swimming, going to the library, playing at Mcdonalds play place, or doing some other indoor activity around town, we do artsy stuff!:) I love that my kids like to create and I had to share some of the things they thought up, made, and given me as gifts. These are some of the best gifts a mother could ask for! Above is a love bracelet that Tavin created for me. He cut the paper, measured it to my wrist, drew the hearts and then taped it to me. He was very proud of it and super happy that I wore it the whole day-even to the store:) I loved it!

 Katie loves her cousin Madison-they have to stick together with all the boys in our family-Olivia will be joining their girls club quite soon-and one thing they do when they are together is make pretty pictures-or in this case-"mixed media" collages and art:) Madison asked if they could use some of my scraps from my scrapbooking paper-they must have been busy creating for at least an hour. These are the final pieces that now hang for all to see on my fridge. Katies is on the left and Madison's on the right. As you can see, Katie even had Maddi help her take some crayons to the page to add color and style:)

 Both my kids have hit the stage where they make little Alien-like people representing their family and friends. Tavin drew the above picture of me and him watching a movie together. The Black figures are us in the movie we are watching-we are superheros that protect the world-Tavin is the bigger one and he is fighting the bad guy...I am his mighty side kick-he explained all this to me after giving me the picture. I love that he drew me in my favorite color and him in his. He apologized for my arms being a little funny looking but I assured him that it was perfect-I even posed in the same position to show him it was indeed "quite normal" :)

 This picture is Katie's interpretation of our family and she informed me we are sitting in church:) Hers take on a jelly fish-like look. Guess which one I am....yep the red one:) I am not sure what is up with my tummy though....she has been obsessed with telling me that I am pregnant with her little brother-so maybe that is me pregnant. ( p.s. I am not pregnant:)

 Close up of Katie's collage so you can all see the details

I had to take a picture of this one because I think it is so sweet. Madison knows that Katie loves princesses so she created this poster to give to Katie to put over her bed in her room:) Katie loves it just as much as she loves Madison and shows everyone who comes over. Katie even prays that Madison will come play when it is her turn to say prayer at night. We sometimes do cheers right before we put them to bed and her's usually has something to do with loving Madison! I hope they stay the best of friends as they grow up.

In The Dog Days Of Summer

 Scout Hollow Falls: On the Fourth of July My sister Krisha and her cute family came with our family on a hike in the mountains of Utah. The boys seem to like hiking more this year and Katie only had a few break downs on the way up:) She was devastated when I told her she would have to go potty in the bushes cause there were no bathrooms. She only agreed to do it when I told her it would make the flowers happy! Krisha and I are determined to make hikers out of our families yet-we love it so they need to love it too:)

 I carried in our hiking pack-she took a little nap on the way down-this is her enjoying a little snack at the top. I loved listening to all the cooing and jabbering she did as we walked along. She has always loved being outside.

 The hikers that made it to the top:) Katie was playing in the dirt as usual and smudged it all over her face

 Cool little bridges along the hike-the kids liked this part

 Tavin, Katie, and Cousins took up a new hobby of finding, befriending, collecting, and returning Rollie Pollies this summer:) This is Katie's-she brought it in to show me and was mesmerized by it's ability to curl up in a ball when she touched it-acting like it was dead-and then undoing itself a little later-when he thought the coast was clear! Ahhh the wonders of the earth. I think he was lucky that he made it out of our  house alive-I kept having to remind her to hold it carefully in her hand or she would squish it.

 Olivia became a big fan of the swing this summer-whenever we go to the parks by our house-she points in their direction and insists on getting in to be pushed. She giggles the whole time! Daniel can really get her laughing.

 One night while I was at work, Daniel sent me this text....he informed me that the him and the kids were camping and roasting marshmallows.....in our play room:) They slept in the tent that night and ate smores they cooked over our stove. What a fun Daddy they have. We hope to take them camping for real before the weather changes again.

Since it has been so hot in Utah this summer-usually in the 100's,  we have enjoyed lots of ice cream. Livy thinks it is pretty yummy:) 

Tip Towing Through The Tulips : Our Journey

A year ago this month....I agreed to join my sister Krisha on a journey to get healthy once again. As a mother-still not finished having kids, it's seemingly an ongoing process. Get fit and healthy, get pregnant, get sick, give up being healthy, have a kid, and start all over. At times, it is depressing and yes, very very hard. A mountain that takes time to climb. But each time I take on the challenge to get back to being healthy, I learn something new! For my first two children, I lived a couple hours away from my family and faced the task alone....but this last time around-I got the privilege of having all of my sisters, and especially Krisha, by my side.

Krisha and I haven't always been the best of friends, in fact, when we were younger, I was the one she picked on most. But as time has gone by, and we grew up-she is one of my most favorite people in the world. I have always seen Krisha as someone equal to a hard challenge-and what most people don't see-is although she is tough on the outside, she is so good on the inside. What I didn't know-is that she didn't know she can do ANYTHING she set her mind to-and that was one of the most rewarding parts of this challenge-seeing her succeed and realize she is capable....we are all capable of doing hard things and becoming who we want to be.

My AH HA MOMENT: I learned this time around that our mind and how we think about ourselves and the world around us-hugely limits what we can accomplish. Negative talk or thinking keeps us from becoming.    All through this process, we shut down the voice that told us we couldn't and showed it that we can! And with the help from each other-and from our sister Kimberly (who has been on the healthy band wagon a lot longer than we have)-when we didn't think we could-we told each other we can. Expand the bounds of your mind, expand the possibilities of your life. We are capable of so much more!

We started with just walking, then jogging a mile, then three, then five, then six and seven, then eight, and finally ten. TEN MILES-yes that is what I said. Each time we completed one of these goals, we thought we were at the end of our capabilities-and then we turned around and blew it away the next day.

THE INFLUENCE OF POSITIVE THINKING~

Another thing I learned this past year is that our bodies are AMAZING and if we treat them right and feed them the right things, we can do amazing things. They are so amazing that we can abuse them for years and years without seeing the side affects of the abuse. But-eventually it will all catch up to you. We need to respect our bodies and the God that gave them to us-by taking care of them.

Some of my favorite quotes on these subjects:

"The food you eat can either be the most safest and powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison." -Ann Wigmore

" Strength: A river cuts through a rock, not because it is powerful, but because it is persistent."

"Every positive thought propels us in the right direction."

"It is not who you are that holds you back, it is who you think you are not."

"Your mind says you can't....it is lying!"

We are scheduled to run our first 10K this Saturday and plan to finish a Half Marathon by the end of this summer. I also have plans with the help of my sisters, to try very hard with the next pregnancy, whenever that may be-to keep fit during the pregrancy-making my next journey all the more easy.

The Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point after Krisha, Kimberly and I ran the 5K-all of us averaging under 10 minute miles-our best times:) And realizing we are ready for more!

My most recent baby joined us for the after race celebration!

Liv helping us out on one of of our other projects this summer-a garden. We love to get our hands dirty! Maybe it is a nurturing female gene/trait-but I find pure joy in creating and taking care of what is around me and my girls prove to have that same love.

We Are Happy Sunny Days Are Hear Again!

"The Earth Laughs In Flowers"

 Summer finally made it's appearance at our house and it was overdo. The first chance we got, we were out and about. Liv's face in this picture represents the happiness we all feel being able to soak up the rays of the sun, smell fresh grass, and pick the colorful flowers. We love to play with side walk chalk and often come away with it all over our clothes!

I LOVE to work outside on our yard and in our garden, I love to pull weeds, and get my hands dirty-it's very therapeutic I guess:) Well lucky for me, since our house was a foreclosure at one point, there is LOTS to be done in our yard. There is something so satisfying about making a once neglected yard-look like an immaculate-well pruned and loved one. While Dan and I work to get things back in shape, the kids often help (especially Katie-I think she has my love for yard work growing inside her) or entertain themselves with games. On this particular day, Dan hooked up the wagon to Tavin's bike and he towed his sisters around and around and around the house. He said he was getting his exercise and making his muscles big:) Liv just loves doing this and often squeals with delight!

Tavin is trying his hand at Baseball this summer and we are all delighted that he LOVES it. He is actually very good at it and we practice outside on sunny days. He can throw the ball straight to you and is awesome at hitting! We are still working on getting the hang of catching-it can be kind of tricky to figure out how to maneuver the mitt. While practicing with Tavin, Dan and I have taken out gloves and bat out of storage and have really enjoyed playing catch and taking turns hitting-Katie and Tavin like to play the outfield and chase the balls we hit. Tuff tries to join in the fun-but we have to bring out a special ball for him-the softballs are too big for his mouth:) We are proud of him and his willingness to try new things. We hope to help him and Katie discover many new talents that they can grow and develop in life.

Oh my miss Katie:) I am sure you are looking at this picture and wondering what the heck it is....well let me tell you: It is Katie's collection of "treasured and special" things she finds outside around the yard while we are working. Each treasure is carefully and lovingly picked and decided upon:)  She chose my black wooden outdoor pot stand to be their home. There is just something about this that describes Katie's personality-and I love it-I love to watch her be so interested in nature and be so eager to conserve the good she finds there.

She is the one you can find, picking "flowers" (dandelions-which at the moment we have a ton of) and putting them in a bucket by our door to give to everyone who comes to visit-and a large amount is given to me-because she loves me:) She doesn't realize that in a few hours, those dandelions will be wilted and shriveled. She is the one you will find, making a big pile of HUGE rocks we found in our flower beds-because she is "saving them" she says from the mud:) She worked so hard to lift every single one of them from the dirt to bring their "safe" new home-all by herself. Every once and a while, she would stop and say: mom this is hard work!:)

And yes, that is a shoe in the mix of all her findings, it happens to be one of her favorite shoes-and I am OK with it being there-cause it makes it easier for me to find when we need it:)

And finally, this picture represents what happens when Summer has not come yet....yes it is a massive rolls of toilet paper made up of 4 rolls of toilet paper that Katie, Tavin, and their two friends, unrolled while mommy and Auntie were exercising one day. They decided to toilet paper their entire room. I didn't want to waste it by throwing it all away, so I had them carefully construct this giant roll while sitting in timeout:) Thank you for Summer-and outside-and the lack of being destructive inside:)

HOORRAYY FOR SUMMER!

Our Pretty Lady (Bug) is One-And Ohhhhh So Much Fun!

Our baby girl turned one on April 12th, and as usual, time has sped by-leaving me open mouthed and dumb founded as I try and figure out where it went. It seems like yesterday I was holding this little girl in my arms introducing her to her excited brother and sister- as the newest addition to our family -and thinking how blessed I was to be a mom yet again. I still remember walking (more like waddling) to the car to go to the hospital-it was gray, windy, and drizzling-so very contradictory of Olivia Anne. She is like a 70 degree spring day-with nothing but sun and birds chirping-on my most dreariest of winter mornings. 

Without fail she meets me bright and stary eyed each day-with the best toothy smile I have ever seen. I could stare at her for hours as I feed her-quietly in the early morning hours-her body curled up close to mine-she creeps on my arms or plays with my hair-only partly awake. Each little limb and finger still perfect and still so small. 

I thought it would be fitting-To celebrate with a Lady Bug theme: Lady bugs are friend to all-and are one of the first insects to emerge in the spring time. They are considered good luck in some countries and are very helpful in keeping pests out of gardens. Plus, they are beautiful to the eye and harmless to the touch. 

We celebrated her day with family and I think everyone had a good time, ESPECIALLY MISS OLIVIA! Believe it or not, she had a smile on from the beginning to the end. And, I soaked it all in-her joy is my joy.

Lady bug cake-used Oreo as the spots, marshmallows as the eyes, and pipe cleaners as the antenna.

Dirt pudding cups with gummy worms coming out of the top

Lady bug pizzas for the kids

Carne Asada crockpot recipe, medditeranean humus dip, and lady bug crackers(tomato, laughing cow cheese, and olives on flat bread crackers)

Chocolate covered strawberries

Watermelon and back berries 

Red balloons, lady bug construction paper hat, and a toole tutu (so easy to make and no sewing by the way!)

                                         Olivia Anne Bauman (taken by "PRINCESS" Grandma)

                                                  She has definitely been a precious gift!

                                        Livy's Lady Bug Cake made lovingly by mom and dad

                                                    All the delicious lady bug themed treats!

                              Did you know there is such a thing as lady bug pizza:) Well there is!

                                               Livy in her Lady Bug Hat-such a cute little bug!

                                                                      Livy's new toys!

                                   Livy stylin in her tutu and hat-getting ready to have some yummy cake!

                                                         Aidan eating worms and dirt!

                                                                  Tavin happy as a Bug in a rug!

                                                                     Cake devoured!

                                                                   Sharing in the goodness!

       She LOVED it:) She started off slow-but quickly got the hang of it! Went straight to the bath afterward

Olivia at one year old:
*She is a pro at crawling-at first did the one legged scoot-but now uses two legs
*pulls herself up on things and can balance for a few seconds when standing
*Loves to be outside-and crawls toward the door whenever it is open
*enjoys peek a boo and bath time
*Loves her purple blanky
*Going to be a dancer like her sister-moves whenever there is music
*Is VERY ticklish and likes it when Tavin blows on her tummy
*Likes cheerios, go gurt, cottage cheese, sweet potatoes and squash
*Lays her head down on your lap to cuddle
*Likes to feed tuff his food
*Wears a patch for an hour a day over her right eye to strengthen her left eye
Likes to pull silverware out of the dish washing machine

We're Quirky and We Know it:)

Curling Katie's hair for family pictures!

 Tavin going along with grandpa's crazy idea to put him in a trash bag and suck the air out with the shop vac:)

The "get-along" shirt. I got this idea of pinterest-whenever Katie and Tavin are caught fighting with each other-they have to get in the "get-along shirt" until they are ready to do just that-"get-along!":)


Oh the fun we have! Usually kids end up being the Ginny pigs for their parent's (and in many cases-relatives') "bright ideas" ! Luckily-our Ginny pigs are good sports and up for the challenge and our ideas are all quirky ones-not anything harmful.

While on a visit to Daniel's home to see his family for his sister Deedra's mission farewell (she is off to the West Indies in April)-we had the kids try out some of those crazy-out-of- the-box ideas!

Daniel often shares with me-stories of his dad teasing him and his siblings-one such time, he put them in giant trash bags and used the shop-vac to suck out the air-with their heads out of course. Upon recalling this event-Grandpa Larry decided that it was still a great idea and found a willing subject in Tavin. We all had a good laugh as we watched the madness:) Ah the memories we share.

Katie's hair turned out so cute from the curlers I got at a expo. She looked like such a little lady for the pictures Marlene took and I am crossing my fingers that we got at least one really good one to hang on the wall in our house. She has quite the personality and the pictures really captured that.

As for the "get-along" shirt the jury is still out on that one....they think it is fun and funny right now-but I suppose it will work over time-or just give a lot of laughs!