Back to School!

Where or where did the summer go?!  Part of me was so ready for the kids to get back in school - the part that likes to accomplish anything and go to the store with out 3 kids in tow.  And part of me was sad to see the summer come and gone so quickly.  Our summer was pretty low key and it was nice to be home and when Pierce and Madi were getting along, I was loving it.  It really seems that with kids every year is going by faster and faster, it was hard to believe it was back to school time already!  

I think Pierce and Madi were both a little bummed to have summer over, but as soon as we went to "Back to School" night, they were excited and ready to go!  That always works like a charm, meeting the teacher, seeing their desk, it just brings excitement, thank goodness for that.  Here is a look at my kids on their first day...

Madi, my big FIRST grader!  Can you believe it?  

 It is just crazy how grown up she is in the what seems like the blink of an eye!  She was very excited to be in school all day, to eat lunch at school, and especially to have her own desk!  Very thrilling for this little miss!  She had a great first week and I was very proud of her, it is such a huge adjustment being in school all day long and although I could tell she was very tired, she did great.  She was sad that her best friend Annie, isn't in her class this year, but she is doing well making new friends in her class.  I am excited to see her progress this year, I know she will be an excellent  student, her reading really took off this summer and she had been cruising through "Jack and Annie" books like crazy.  She read 2 of them today!  It is so fun to see her reading so well on her own and really getting into the stories and loving them.

Pierce, the very grown up FOURTH grader!  

 Seriously, blowing my mind that my boy is this big!  He really likes his new teacher and was excited to start 4th grade.  He doesn't have his best buddies in his class, but I am thrilled that he has 2 darling girls from our neighborhood (my cute Activity Day girls) in his class.  I've told him that they'll be giving me a report if he is ever naughty!  He has become very responsible lately and I know he will have a great year!

 Brother and Sister - this girl loves her big "bwudda" 

Sadly, our new traditional picture on the Todd Bench.  It was incredibly hard to believe that this week of school starting marked 2 years since Todd's been gone.  It is still so unbelievable to me, oh how we miss that little guy.  

Best Cousins - Pierce 4th, Madi 1st, Brooke 5th and Matthew 3rd.  I sure love these kids and am so glad we get to be close to them.  

We're off to a great start this year!  And let me just say how great it was going to Costco this week with only 1 baby!  It was a breeze!  

Photog Blog

Just a quick post to share the link for my new blog today.  I am having so much fun working on my photography, I decided to start a blog just for sharing favorites from the shoots I have been doing. I'd love for you to check it out, critiques and comments appreciated as I continue to learn! Thanks!
www.josierobisonphoto.blogspot.com

Pierson's Happy Birthday

As always, this kid was so excited for his birthday, and we were excited to celebrate him!  Pierce loves having his birthday on Pioneer Day and was excited for the all day festivities.  We started the morning early with a yummy cinnamon roll breakfast, when we had gone shopping at Costco, Pierce opted for the delicious looking cinnamon rolls rather than the usual muffin for his breakfast, not a bad choice. Here he is with his little sidekick...

Jens has been quite fascinated with birthday candles with all of our summer birthday celebrations.  

After breakfast it was off to the parade!  I love that Pierson loves going to the parade for his birthday.  Jensen loved it this year too...

I love this pic of him gazing after the horses. 

He also loves to clap, and of course, I think it's adorable!  

 My sweet NINE year old boy, his baby brother loves him so!

And what do you know, miracles do happen!  All 3 kids looked for a picture! 

   Wahoo!  Happy Pioneer Day!  Love my 3 cute kids.  

After the parade and a few games at the park we came home to prepare for the rest of the day.  We literally partied all day for this kid.  We filled water balloons and I made frosting.  Really yummy frosting.  Then it was time for the "friend party".  Pierce chose to do Laser Mania again after having so much fun last year.  I let him pick a few friends to invite and they had a blast playing laser tag and arcade games.  

 Best Dad Ever, Joey, Pierce, Jace and Isaac - his neighborhood buddies

After Laser Mania we came home for cupcakes and gifts...

 Isaac, Pierce, Jace and Joey - pretty excited for big ol' cupcakes!

 My handsome birthday boy!  

And just to you can get a really good look at the delicious cupcakes and frosting.  Really, it was so good, amazing what you can do with a couple sticks of butter! 

Present Time! 

Pierce was so excited for such fun gifts!  A Star Wars lego set from Isaac, a Nerf squirt gun from Jace and the cool new BYU shirt from Joey.  He has really gotten into Legos lately, especially the Star Wars sets and has had his eye on some cool sets.  He was pretty excited about his big "General Grievous Starfighter" from Mom and Dad.  

We also gave him a new package of Nerf gun bullets which he was thrilled about since he was down to one bullet, and some cool new shirts - BYU and Star Wars, you can tell what this kid loves!  And I love how he looks at me and smiles every time I want to take his picture, he is so good for me, I don't know why I can't Madi on board!  

 After friends went home we got ready for our "cousin party".  Pierce wanted to do a water party with the cousins and I was so thankful for Crystal being so gracious and letting us do it in her beautiful backyard. We had so much fun playing with our Hall cousins and were glad the Brooks could join us too!  

Joey, Matthew, Pierce - they had a lot of slip n slip fun!

Joey, Pierce and Brooke, what a good sport Brooke is to play with all these boys!  

The kids had a ball with water balloons and a water version of duck duck goose.  

Then Crystal had a great game for the older kids, she had frozen t-shirts and they had to put them on.  It is pretty hilarious to watch, they were great sports and had so much fun! 

The brave contestants - Brooke, Matthew, Joey and Pierce

Jensen decided the water looked pretty inviting... after Dad let him soak his clothes, he was glad Mom was there with a swim diaper.  We went from this...

 to this...

and finally to this...

He had so much fun splashing in the water!  

After plenty of water games and fun we enjoyed a delicious dinner and then enjoyed yummy cake and ice cream.  Did I mention the deliciousness of the cake I made?  I think I need an excuse to make it again, I don't think I can wait until next year when our birthday season starts again.  

 My happy birthday boy, (sporting the previously frozen t shirt he managed to put on) with Matthew

After dinner we headed to the cemetery to our new traditional Pioneer Day firework spot.  

Remembering Todd - We love and miss you buddy!  

I really do love this.  So nice to sit there as a family with Grandma and our cousins, close to Grandpa and Todd and enjoy the fireworks, not to mention no one around but us.  Perfect way to end a perfect day.  We had so much fun celebrating Pierson all day long.  I really can't believe it's been 9 years since my first baby boy was born.  He is such a sweet, loving and good boy and I am so thankful to be his Mom.  We love you Pierce! 

The Best Day of Madi's Life

The summer is just flying by!  I seriously can not believe how quickly the days are disappearing.  Thankfully the kids have been enjoying being home and playing together.  For the most part.  We have our moments, but they have been having fun and enjoying a low key summer.  All month long the kids were looking forward to visiting Grant and Annie (The Woodburys) at their cabin.  Their family is spending a month at a cabin in Brian Head for summer vacation and we have certainly missed them.  Madi was especially excited to see Annie after 3 weeks of having her gone.  So last Saturday we drove up and spent the day with them, it was so nice to be in the cool mountain air and let the kids just enjoy being outside, they loved it!  Here are some highlights...

Bubble Worms!
Kathryn had come up with this fun spin on blowing bubbles, the kids loved it!  Very cool!

Hanging with Heidi...Seriously, how cute are these two babes?

4 Wheeler Rides!

The kids were SO excited about this!  Definitely the highlight of Pierson's day.  Madi was a little scared at first, but she ended up having a great ride and was excited when they got to go for a second ride in the evening.  Thanks Dustin and Kathryn for sharing your fun toys with us!

Great Views!
We drove up to a couple of look out spots, we didn't stay too long since it was getting cold and starting to rain, but it was fun to see how high up we were...

I had to stop and shoot some pics in this beautiful little spot...

 Cute girls!

 My sweet boy!  He was pretty happy about mom plopping him down in the weeds for a photo op, loving those dandelions!

I know I say it every time, but I just love these blue eyes! 

And last but not least - the "party"!  

Leave it to these two girls to find something to decorate anywhere.  They decided they were going to have a party, here they are getting ready...

 Pine cone decorations, very festive!

And bubble "balloons" to add to the party mood.  They were having so much fun and Kathryn and I were getting such a kick out of listening to them play.  They are so sweet and cute together.  While preparing their little party Madi told me, "Mom, this is the best day of my life!"  I asked her, "Really?!  What about Christmas and your birthday?"  She quickly responded that those were the 2nd best days of her life, and that this was the best day of her life.  I asked her about Halloween, Valentines and Easter, and she quickly let me know that those were 3rd, 4th, etc. on her list.  THIS was the best day of her life.  I asked her why and she said,  "because I get to be at the cabin with Annie!!!"  (There was a LOT of enthusiasm in there.) So glad you had so much fun my Madi girl.

Thanks Woodburys for sharing your fun with us, we had so much fun!

Birthdays! (rather we wanted them or not!)

I like birthdays.  I am a big fan of birthdays.  I love having a special day to celebrate my kids, a day that's all about them.  I have always loved celebrating Ryan's birthday too - especially since I've been trying to make up for his 25th birthday for the past 10 years...

Side Story:  (needs to be written down before I get so old that I start forgetting the details of our dating story) Ryan and I met in the summer of 2000.  I had just finished my first year at Dixie College and was attending the college ward.  Ryan had just graduated from BYU and was getting ready for Optometry school in the fall so he was home for the summer.   We met at the college ward where I was serving on the "Activities Committee"  (which was me and two good friends planning FHE every Monday night for the whole ward) Of course I was magnifying my calling to the fullest and was constantly greeting everyone in the ward (no, it was NOT just the guys!) and asking everyone if they were planning to attend the upcoming activity.  After a few weeks of summer apparently Ryan started thinking, "wow, she is so nice, she remembered my name, she always says hi to me, she always asks if I"m coming to the activities, she must really like me."  He confessed all of this to me later of course and by then he had realized - oh wait, she's not flirting with me, she flirts with does that to every body.  Poor guy.  Anyway while he was still under the misconception that I was favoring him he decided to ask me out.  He came in to my work one day, (which I will never forget! It really was so cute!) I was a bank teller, I finished helping a customer and looked up to see him waiting.  "Ryan!"  I said.  He came up to my window and asked me for change for a $5 bill.  Then he confessed that he didn't actually have a transaction but asked me if I wanted to go out.  (Seriously, so cute!) Of course I said yes, then I went home and told my roommate/BFF, Stacy - "guess who came in to my work and asked me out?!  Ryan Robison.  Isn't that weird, I hardly know him."  Poor, poor guy, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.  Anyway, we went on our 1st date and I was TOTALLY impressed.  First of all he had asked me in advance, not just "hey you want to hang out tonight?"  like so many college guys do, he took me on a real date, which included dinner and an activity and he opened doors and was a perfect gentleman.  Stacy was on the date with me, (we ended up doubling and she was with Ryan's brother Steve) and after the date we were both wondering what could be wrong with him.  During the 1st date conversation I found out that he had just GRADUATED from BYU, and was going to Optometry school in the fall.  So obviously something must be wrong with him, there was no other explanation to why he was still single. He was so nice and fun and he even dressed well.  I was so impressed with everything about him.  He was a real man.  Not a college guy. A man.   He seemed way out of my league and since I knew he was going to be moving to Oregon soon I didn't expect anything else to happen, not even a second date.  Not to mention he was 6 years older than me.  (I was still 18, just weeks away from turning 19 and he was 24, about to turn 25).  I never thought he'd seriously be interested in me.

So the next week I was very surprised when he called and asked me for a second date.  We had had a lot of fun together and totally flirted the night away, but still, I thought there was no way he'd be interested, just looking for a few fun dates while he was home for the summer.  I had plans on the night he asked me for and so I suggested another night.  He said that would work and we set the date up.  Again I was so impressed, dinner and an activity, (Pasta Factory - magic happens there I tell ya) then we ended up just going back to his house and sitting in the living room talking.  During our conversation it dawned on my that during our 1st date conversation we had both said how old we were and when our birthdays were and his was coming up soon!  I suddenly asked him, " Oh my gosh it's your birthday this week isn't it?"  He said yes.  I was racking my brain trying to remember when he'd said it was!  " Oh my gosh was it yesterday?!"  No.  "Is it tomorrow?!"  No.  And it sunk in, that day was his birthday!  I felt terrible!  He had switched the day of the date because I asked him to and of course he didn't say anything.  I could not believe he had taken me out on his birthday and I didn't even know it!  I felt SO bad.  He insisted he didn't care and I ended up staying and having birthday cake with his family.  It was fun, but I felt so, so bad.  So, since his blissful 27th birthday,  (which was pretty awesome just because we were married!) I have always wanted to make sure his birthday was a great day for him.

This year, however, with our birthdays coming up, we both kind of thought - yikes!  Ryan turning 37 and me turning 31!  How could that be happening?!  I know my 40 year old friends and sisters in law would be rolling their eyes at me, but seriously, how did this happen?   I still feel like I'm the young new mom, how could I suddenly be in my Thirties?!  So even though I wasn't too excited about our "aging", we did manage to have fun celebrating our birthdays...

The kids really make half the fun, they love birthdays so much that even mom and dad's are exciting for them!  They are so cute and fun filled with excitement!  We had a delicious birthday breakfast planned for Ryan - Ryan and I finished up a grueling 17 day diet of no carbs and no sugar the day before his birthday so we were very excited for some good food to celebrate his day!  I know, I could not believe I actually made it 17 days with out a treat!  It was ridiculous, but I was very proud of myself!  So to start our celebratory day of indulging in carbs and sugar we enjoyed a delicious french toast bake for breakfast.  Oh my, it was delicious, everyone loved it and the kids were asking when we could have it again.  A new family favorite for sure!

We sent the birthday boy off to work with lots of hugs and kisses and geared up for lots of fun that night...

 We took the kids bowling and they had so much fun, they were a riot to watch.  Jensen even enjoyed himself and was pretty fascinated with all the balls.  Which by the way, besides Mama and Dada, his official first word is "ball"! (Just like big brother)

 After bowling we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Texas Road House and then it was home for the main event!

 We get pretty excited about birthday cake around here!  This was a brownie ice cream cake I made and it was so good!  Better than good really, it was pretty much brownie and ice cream perfection.
I also have to add, one of my favorite things about these pictures - notice Madi holding her beloved Monkey during breakfast and also cake time?  Flash back to Ryan's birthday 3 years ago, she was holding her beloved "Monk" and including him in the birthday singing.  Oh, she surely makes us laugh.

Jensen hadn't figured out the candle thing yet for his own birthday, but now he's got it down and was so exctited about Daddy's candles,  yay!  

Such a fun day celebrating the best Daddy and husband!  We are so lucky to have him. So glad you picked me Babe, I love you so much. 

Aside from being a little disturbed about turning thirty-one, my birthday was great too.  Kenny and Erin were in town and we were so excited to be able to get together with them.  JoAnn was so sweet to come stay with the kids so we could enjoy going out to dinner and catching up with Kenny and Erin.  We had a great time of course, and a little break from the kids was just what I needed, plus it made coming home to celebrate much more exciting for them.  Madi had been writing me little notes all day and I came home to many more, Pierce had joined the note writing craze and  my favorites included being taped to the garage door, where I couldn't miss it when I walked in the house, and on the phone.  

After totally depriving myself of treats (I went back on the diet after Ryan's birthday until my birthday) I was really in the mood to bake something delicious, so instead of my usual Costco birthday cake I decided to make my own.  Half way through the process I was thinking what a bad idea it was to spend so much time baking my own cake, but once we tasted it I decided it was worth it!  I made this delicious Old Fashioned Chocolate cake and it was Heavenly!  (I decided that next time I just need to bake the cake a day or two in advance and put it in the freezer - go with that if you decide you want to try this beauty.) And since this is already a self indulgent post, I'll add that thanks to the ridiculous diet, I hit my best weight that morning since before Madi was born!  Wahoo! Anyway, the cake was fantastic and the kids were so cute and excited to celebrate, it was a perfect evening.

Love my 3 silly kids.  It really was a happy birthday.  

Goodbye School - Hello Summer!

We are well into summer around here, I can't believe we're already half way through June!  Before any more time flies by, here's a look at our end of school wrap up...

Pierce had his Spring piano recital themed "Night at the Movies",  it was so fun - all the kids played songs from a movie and Kathryn served popcorn, red vines and soda.  It was so cute, casual and fun, not to mention very easy to keep the little ones happy with a red vine!  Kathryn had them do a second performance at a care center and this was a great opportunity for them.  Here's Pierce playing the theme song from "Star Wars"!  

He LOVED playing this for his recital (imagine that) and had it memorized so quickly.  He did a great job, I was very proud of him!  I am so grateful he has the opportunity to be taking lessons from Kathryn, just one of the many perks of having her at the end of the street.  Thank you Kathryn! 

Pierce received an award at the end of the year assembly for scoring a 99% on his end of level test in Language Arts.  He was so excited to get an award and was even more excited when he found out I was there watching him!  Way to go bud, we are so proud of you!  

Here he is with his great teacher, Mrs. Winger.  He has loved her this year, she has been a great teacher for him!  

And spring wouldn't be complete with out baseball...

Pierce finished up another season and had a great time!  Way to go Angels! 

My little Madi girl, isn't so little anymore...

She was excited about her big "Kindergarten Graduation" program.  

Her she is with her wonderful teacher Mrs. Barrett.  We love Mrs. Barrett and I have been grateful to have her teach both of my children, she is a gem! 

Madi was especially thrilled about her big dance recital!  She loves her recitals and is always so excited for Daddy and brother to come watch her perform on the big stage.  Here she is with her best friend Annie...

I love having them in dance together.  They danced to "Broadway Baby" and had a great time!  They were both so excited to receive flowers from their Daddies and have them come carry them off the stage (she was done smiling at me by the time we took pics with the flowers, I wont complain, I was lucky to get these great smile from her!) She had also lost her 4th tooth the night before and was thrilled about that, probably the real reason I got this great smile.  

Well that wraps up our end of the school year!  The kids were so excited for summer and honestly I was dreading it.  Looking forward to the break from homework, yes.  But looking forward to the fighting, bugging and arguing, NO.  The first two weeks I was about to lose it - constant bugging from a big brother, screaming and fits from a little sister, complaining of being "bored", always wanting to play with a friend,  you get the picture.  I was not loving it.  Not to mention it was impossible for me to get a thing done around the house! My summer to do list of cleaning and organizing was looking like a distant dream.  And them came our trip to park city for Ryan's UOA Conference AKA our  Summer trip  for the kids...

Although the first night was a total nightmare (as I suspected since Jens is a huge fan of sleeping in his crib and no where else.  I'm talking awake from 11:30 p.m. - 2:30 a.m.  AAHHH!) once we got through that, some magic happened and Pierce and Madi were having a grand ol' time together!  3 days of hanging out in the hotel room watching movies and going swimming was a ball for them!

Our room had a balcony with a nice hot tub so even when we were just hanging out in the room or Jens was napping, they were able to get in and have some fun...

The pool was great, it was fun for them to go swimming each day...

Jens was a good boy and didn't mind kickin' it by the pool with Mom, watching brother and sister play...

And of course I can never get enough of those blue eyes...

We were especially excited to have Aunt Kate, Bennett and Tay come join us in Park City for a day.  The kids had so much fun swimming and playing with Bennett and Tay! Jens and I did join them in the pool that afternoon, he wasn't so sure at first but once he got used to the water, he enjoyed some pool time.  Unfortunately no pics since mom was in the water with him.

Pierce, Bennett & Madi, fun in the hot tub!

The highlight of the trip and probably of their entire summer was the Alpine Slide.  Ryan and I were excited to take them, I had been once as a kid and just remembered that it seemed really big and really fast.  They were so excited to go, and it was even more fun than we anticipated - we did the Alpine Slide and also the Kids Flying Eagle zip line and the Alpine Coaster....

 Excited for fun!

Not so excited anymore!  Madi was terrified to go on the "Flying Eagle" but she did it, crying all the way.  By the end of the day she had decided it was fun.

 Madi and Dad had fun on the Alpine Slide together, and notice our little Woodland friend who popped in to be in our photo.  Pierce trying to make it go as fast as possible!

The Alpine Coaster - Which I have to say was so fun!  The kids had a ball, scary rides and all.  We were so glad we got to have that short afternoon to do something fun with Daddy.  (Ryan's schedule was so crammed he had to skip a class just for an afternoon to actually do something as a family!  Not much of a vacation for us!) The kids had so much fun, so I'm calling the trip as success, even though we were frustrated with how the conference went and it didn't give us much family time. I was especially glad that Pierce and Madi seemed to make a turn and start enjoy playing together.  How I have missed the days that they played endlessly together!  Things have been much smoother at home since we got back.  If fact for the entire first week after the trip, the kids didn't ask to play with friends once! They are doing much better at playing together, we might make it though the summer after all!