BUGS!

We celebrated Hayden's Seventh Birthday with a Creepy, Crawly, Bug party! We did lots of fun bug-centered activities, but everyone's favorite was the bug eating game. We had real BBQ flavored worms and chocolate covered crickets.

Here's Hayden eating a worm...he was the first to try.

Suprisingly, out of the 12 kids there, all but 4 little girls (mine included) wouldn't try one. They seriously had so much fun with this game! They claim the crickets were crunchy and the worms tasted like nachos.

Doesn't their faces say it all? Mr. J. on the left, despite his expression, was an active participant, eating everything without hesitation. Miss J., on the right...wasn't.

We also had a special guest. A tarantula named Bubba. We fed Bubba crickets. He's still sitting on my counter top. I think I'm actually starting to get used to him. But he goes back to his owner tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Hayden! We love you!

And almost on cue, he took on all of the "delightful" characteristics of a seven year old boy.

October- December: a Review

Looking back, I realize I tend to leave a lot of stuff out when I blog...like all holidays, accidents, and tarantula findings. So bear with me as I recap the last few months...

I'm the first to admit that we need window well covers. But they cost about 100.00 bucks and we need five. But Benson has fallen in once, Our little friend Tate has fallen in once and Isabella has fallen into the same window well twice. This last time (this is not for the faint of heart) her hair caught on a tumble weed on the way down and a huge chunk of hair the size of a siver dollar was literally ripped out. As in, there was no hair left. It was pretty disturbing. Two months later she has a few strands trying to grow back in , but I've had to learn to comb her hair a different direction to cover it.

We heard tarantulas roam this area but had yet to see one, until we went shooting up in the hills behind our house, where we found this beauty. Luckily it was dead. Hayden still has it stored in the garage somewhere.

Halloween. Hayden was Dracula, Bella was Tinkerbell, Benson refused to dress up for any of the parties but finally put on his Batman costume from last year, and the year before that, when I told him he couldn't go trick-or-treating in civilian clothes, and Gavin was a frog. The poor little guy was getting over Swine Flu and Pneumonia so he had to stay in.

Tory took several Business trips, one of which was to Maryland. He was able to drive 10 miles north to Gettysburg. Tory is an American History buff, so he loved this.

Thanksgiving was spent with my sister and her family. My Dad drove down from Boise. My kiddos ate him up. It was a quiet, great Thanksgiving. And we discovered that Rachel and I can put together one mean Thanksgiving dinner.

My Hayden was chosen to be the Student of the Month. They had a little assembly and he was completely mortified, but we were so proud of him. He is such a good kid. Seriously. By the way, it was pajama day.

In Maine, we drove half a mile and were able to cut down a Christmas tree for 20 dollars. In Utah, we paid 65.00 to drive to the tree lot. It just wasn't as fun. But this year we found a place in Alpine that you could choose and cut your own tree. So much fun and so much more memorable.

For Christmas, My Mom, Grandma and Step-Dad came in from Colorado. We spent Christmas Eve at Rachel's house (as seen in the pictures) and Christmas Day at our house. We packed a ton of fun things into one week.

A million other things happened. And I'll think of them later, and wish I would have included them. I need to remember the important and the mundane. Life goes fast.

Family Photos

We had our family pictures taken this year by our friend, Lyndsey. Here are some of my favorites of the kiddos. Couldn't you just eat them up?!

It MUST run in the Family...

Honestly, we've always sort of wondered where Hayden came from. He just doesn't look like us. Neither Tory or myself have ever had blonde hair. Tory's eyes are brown-green, mine are green. He doesn't have either of our face shapes. Or noses, or even body types. We think he just received a compilation of all of our recessive genes and is one of a kind. I mean, for two people as dark as we are to have a child as fair as Hayden, it's got to be a fluke, right?

Well, at least that's what we used to think. Before Gavin came along. It seems these genes aren't so recessive afterall. Our blonde, blue-eyed boys could be twins. Two boys that look just like each other and very little like us...We're left to deduce that it MUST run in the family!

Birthday Girl...belated!

This blog is long overdue! Miss Bella turned three July 16th! How I love this spunky, silly, sweet, full-of-life little girl. She has a passion for princesses, Strawberry Shortcake, batman legos, and blocks. She loves to dance and sing...and can't wait till she can play soccer and baseball. She adds some much needed femininity to our family but can hold her own with the boys. Her zest for life is contagious and we are so blessed to have her! We Love you, Baby Girl!

Confessions of a Bad Mom

I've never felt so guilty in all my life.

Well, except for the time I was cooking while holding Benson, leaned in too close to the stove and accidentally burned his leg on the pan.

Or the time Isabella got a hold of my rolling quilt cutter and I pulled it out of her hand to stop her from cutting herself and, well, cut her finger.

Or every time I look at Hayden and hope with all my heart that, as my first child, I haven't ruined the poor kid for life.

Or how I misjudged the width of our door frame several weeks ago and nailed Gavin's head, creating a welt and bruises.

Or when we were in Downtown Portland Maine, on the cobblestone street and I tipped the stroller on it's back wheels to push my 6 week old daughter up the steep hill and her blanket fell out the back of the stroller, but upon closer inspection, it wasn't her blanket, it was actually Isabella. I had forgotten to buckle her in her carseat after dinner. She had a goose egg the size of Rhode Island from that one.

Wait...that wasn't me. (Sorry Babe, but misery loves company and I didn't want to walk down this path of shame without you by my side.)

But with this one I really do feel horribly guilty. We were at the park for the ward fourth of July party and it was a cloudy day, but the sun broke through for five minutes. And it was in those five minutes that a friend grabbed Tory and I on our way to the shade to chat and I left my little baby exposed to the high noon sun. He was fried. I seriously nearly cried every time I looked at his sweet little smiling, chubby face for the next day. After 24 hours the burn was pretty much gone, but the guilt and the fear of skin cancer are imprinted on my mind forever.

They're Back!

I'm not sure what great evil Eagle Mountain has commited, but we have called down upon us the Wrath, like unto Egypt. Our plague is in the form of the Black Widow.

Last summer they crawled down the middle of the streets in broad daylight, they made their webs in our door frames, window wells, and porch chairs. I lived in mortal fear of my children walking outside without shoes on. I made the rounds each day, killing all in sight before allowing my children outside.

And now...two months ahead of last year, my eight-legged enemies have returned. I found this one next to the garage. Tory has found two more. And thus it continues. The curse of Eagle Mountain. *Shiver*