Summer...so far!

Sorry for the long post but I just haven't been up to posting much! This one's a doozy!!

So you know what? Summer is almost over! I guess that's all depending how you look at summer and I'm looking at summer as the summer that the man...aka public school system...has set into place. I swear it gets shorter and shorter every year. But imagine my shock when just a few days ago Nick asked me when summer was over and I looked at the calendar and realized we had just one month...one month!!...until the man says we have to go back to school and hence, summer fun is over. Boo! I wish it could last forever! Especially since this year, with me being all sicky preggo, I've felt like we haven't done much. I'm usually one to have all sorts of fun adventures planned for my kids and I feel like I've been quite the slacker this year. But my camera would beg to differ. We actually have had some good times. Here's a quick review of summer...so far:

We started out summer going to the Orem Cemetery Memorial Day Service with the Tongs to see Spencer's mom be among the honored as Mother of the Year. It was great to have the kids see the importance of the day. The kids also loved seeing and climbing on the Apache helicopter, tank, and firetrucks. We met up with the Mailes and were able to spend some time at Naki's grave remembering him. It was a wonderful morning.
























We spent the rest of the day at Grandma & Grandpa's pool getting in the first swim of the year.









We've almost gone every week to craft time and Canopy Capers at the Provo Library. The kids loved having a picnic lunch while watching puppet shows and listening to stories.









We got to go to Ben's work party at Lagoon. Now I'm not a huge fan of Lagoon, but I love it when you don't have to pay for it! We had a great time!

















We headed to the canyon with our friends the Coxs for dinner and yummy s'mores.









My niece, Marisa, came to stay for a week. I'm sure she was bored out of her mind but the kids loved having her here and she was such a help! We went bowling and had a campout in the backyard!









We took the kids to the Owlz game!
















We had our annual cousins sleepover with Cass (Sky's age) & this year Eli (Nick's age)even stayed! We wish we could see them more but love this tradition!









The kids have been begging to take soccer forever and I've been resisting because of the amount of time I've heard it consumes. We decided to give it a try with a week long soccer camp to see if they actually liked it. They loved it!
















One of our favorite traditions is getting up way too early and going to see the hot air balloons to start our 4th of July celebrations. The day we went the balloons didn't end up going up due to the wind, but the kids got to climb in a hot air balloon and each take a turn on the burner so it was totally worth it!

















Afterwards we went for our traditional yummy Magleby's breakfast and then went to feed the ducks.

















We had a fun BBQ with the Tongs and then headed out to watch the PG fireworks from the hill at the park. Too bad we went out a half hour too late so the fireworks never showed. Oh well, we had fun anyway.
Ben and Skylar ran in the Freedom Festival 5K along with the Mailes. They had such a great time and did so well!

















We went to the Grand Parade where we got to spend some time with our friends the Chases, the Quinns, and the Jensens. What a blast!

















Later that night we did some fireworks with the Jensens.








We went to a luau that our Hanamaikai friends' daughter was performing in. We love luaus-great food and great entertainment. Ame was awesome-what a dancer! They also had an amazing 7 year old fire dancer-wow!









We took one final trip to the Ogden Dino Park with our annual pass. The Tongs joined us. It was really fun but really hot!

















The kids took swimming lessons at the Lindon Pool this year. Skylar has advanced to learning the different swim strokes and Nick and Kade are still attempting to be fish. Both Alexis and I loved the fact that they let her play in the shallow water even though she wasn't in lessons-what a sanity saver. She especially loved playing with Kade on the last "fun day" of lessons. Lindon Pool is our favorite!

















Ben and I got to celebrate our 13th anniversary a couple weeks late with a weekend alone in Park City! We were so thankful for my parents being willing to watch the kids and for my dad hooking us up with a nice condo for the week. We were able to eat at some good restaurants, see the movie Inception (wow!), relax a bit, and the main reason we went was to get to see one of our favorites, Ben Folds in concert with the Utah Symphony in Deer Valley. It was such a great weekend!
Since my dad hooked us up with a condo, we were able to bring the kids up to Park City for a couple of nights. The kids were so excited to have a little mini vacation. We went to the PC Family Tree Center, the kiddos and Ben did the Alpine Slide and Coaster, went swimming, and visited the Olympic Park. Someday I may get around to a whole post devoted just to our fun little trip.
So this year we planned a big camping trip with the Tongs and the Hoens...for Memorial Day...when it snowed. The trip got postponed a bit but we finally made it happen. We went down to Fremont State Indian Park and had a great time seeing the Indian petroglyphs and pit houses, camping two nights, and even making a stop at Cove Fort for some Pioneer Day fun. Yet another get-away that needs its own post...someday.



We got home just in time from our camping trip to attend the annual Culdesac of Fire event in our neighborhood. It was hilarious to see who the real pyros are in our neighborhood!









We went to a fundraiser Luau for our friends, the Mailes, at the beautiful Noni Tahitian gardens. I'm pretty sure I could eat luau food forever and never get sick of it. My kids are in agreement and begged me to get some recipes. We watched a great show-Alexis and Kade kind of participated-and had a great time!









So there you have it...summer so far. We better get crackin' on some more summer fun...time is running out!!

Our Fantastic Four...plus one more

So if you haven't heard (and pretty much you've heard, right?)....we're having another baby!! So as much as so many people told us not to mess with the so called "perfect family" (2 girls, 2 boys) we've gone and messed with it. We felt that little nagging feeling that someone was missing and so we decided to give it a little try and before we could really get used to the idea, we were having a baby. But we are so excited and know that this little one is meant to be in our forever family!!
Today was that moment of truth when we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat and confirm that that the reason for all the yuckiness, exhaustion, and other joys of early pregnancy actually meant there was something in there. I love that moment when you hear that little swish swish sound. It's the most precious little sound ever and always such a relief to me to know that little heart is doing its job. Ben wanted to come to the Dr. with me so we towed in all of our kiddos and got to watch their eyes light up as they realized it was their baby's little heart making that noise. We only got to hear it for a few seconds here and there as the baby kept jumping all over the place. The Dr. declared this one a swimmer, which I can concur, as I'm pretty sure I've already felt those little swishy feelings-my other favorite thing about being pregnant. We can't wait to see who this active little guy is going to be and feel so very blessed.
So right now I'm about 13 1/2 weeks and this is usually about the time we announce. There was no waiting with this one though, especially since it's our 5th and my stomach muscles were shot with my blasted c-section and long recovery. Even if I could've hid it somehow, we were confronted a few weeks ago with the conflict of going to Lagoon for Ben's work party and having to explain to the kids why I couldn't ride many rides. So the night before Lagoon we decided to tell the kids. Ben wrapped up a "Mom-to-be" balloon in a box with Christmas wrapping paper and we told the kids we had a really early Christmas present for them. They were so excited about that in itself. When they opened the present, the balloon burst out, and Skylar and Nick both read it out loud. Then the realization kicked in. It was awesome to catch their faces. Skylar squealed and jumped up and down. Nick was ecstatic-he has been talking about how he just knew we had another baby in heaven for the last year and was so excited he was right. Kade just ran around all crazy Kade-like with the balloon and we weren't sure he got it but he confirmed he did and was excited about more than the balloon. Alexis just sucked her thumb. I'm sure this will be a whole new thing for her but she absolutely adores babies so I think she'll love having a baby to mother. Now when we ask her where the baby is she points to herself. If we ask her again she points to my tummy...so she's kind of getting the idea.To tell our parents we sent them Christmas cards and wrote inside "We wanted to let you know early that your Christmas present may be a little late. Baby Jordan #5 due January 7." We thought it was a fun way to get the word out to all of them at the same time. Once the kids knew the news, it spread like crazy and I'm pretty sure most know by now.
So now the long wait begins until we can meet this new member of our family. I have to admit that I am not a fan of pregnancy and can't believe I'm actually putting myself through this again. I already have the feeling that I'm done after this-which I've heard you do some day feel-so that's nice...and kind of sad at the same time. I'm trying to treasure every moment of the pregnancy, as much as I can, feeling that. I feel so very blessed that I was ever given the gift of being a mother in the first place-something I wanted and ached for so long for-and to have the chance to once again be a mother to another precious baby is such an overwhelming blessing. These babies Ben and I get to have are our greatest treasures. We can't wait to meet you baby #5!!

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.

If you ask Skylar to dance for you, she won't do it. But if you put her on a stage, that girl will dance. She loves to dance! We don't get to see it often, but come May we get to see it plenty. This is the month of dance and we are bombarded with extra and longer practices, dance pictures, rehearsals, her spring concert, and Skylar's favorite by far, the National's Dance Competition at Lagoon. That girl will dance up a storm for this month and love every minute of it.
So May 15th was the big Lagoon competition. We are up early every year-we had to be there at 8:30 this year-yikes! Skylar puts on her serious face for this. She wants everything to be perfect-she's being judged and all. Skylar loves being part of a competition group. I'm amazed she's my daughter as I am so not into anything competitive. But she loves it and she loves all of the girls she dances with, many of whom she's been dancing with since she was 4.
We were lucky this year because her group was performing two dances but instead of being hours apart, they were only minutes apart. So after some practicing a bit and doing her dances pretty much back to back, we were done for the day, which was good because we decided not to stay at Lagoon since we'd be going again in a few weeks. Their dances were beautiful. They danced a ballet dance first and then the second was a combined group-her All Star Jr. Company combined with the younger group, the Mini Company-and they danced to Almost There from Princess and the Frog, which was a combined jazz and ballet number. It was pretty impressive because the group was so large, yet did such a great job! So great, in fact, that they received first place. They received second place for their first dance. Way to go All Stars!!The last week of school, just to make things a little more crazy, we add on the craziness of her dance Spring concert. This year it was scaled down a ton and so it wasn't nearly as crazy as years past. Skylar performed in three dances and did a great job, of course. Ben, the kids, and grandparents got to come see this one so that was even more exciting for Skylar.
I so love that Skylar has found something she is so passionate about. I love watching her dance with such a huge smile on her face and knowing she is loving every minute of it. Way to go my little dancer!!

Our Kindy Grad

Well, somehow it happened. Somehow my little Nicky went from a fresh new kindergartner to a kindergarten graduate in a blur of a moment. I can't believe it went so fast. Ben and I loved watching that little boy run into school every morning, so excited to be there. We talked about recording him time and time again...and we never did. I will miss his cute little body and his big Clone Wars backpack running in. Believe me, it was adorable.
So Nick graduated from kindergarten on May 27. They had the cutest little program where the kids sang their hearts out and then received their diplomas. Skylar was pretty excited she got to sneak out of class to watch.













Nick has loved kindergarten but was so excited to be done with school...and homework...for the summer! We were so lucky to have Mrs. Vitters as his teacher this year. We love her! Nick was sad to be leaving all of his friends for the summer and planned a ton of playdates with his buddies. He was lucky to get so many new friends this year and has loved it!!














Way to go Nick on being a kindergarten graduate!! You are the coolest!! Your momma & dadda love you lots!!