Tom Sawyer

So I just have to blurb a little about “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.  I honestly can’t remember ever reading this book, but I seem to know all of the stories involved in it.  From TV, plays, whatever, I have no idea how I know these stories.  Anyway, our book club chose Tom Sawyer for our September book, and I am actually thrilled to be reading it.

BTW – for those of you who don’t know.  The Orem City Library participates in something called “The Big Read”in the fall, and the book for this year is Tom Sawyer.  Which means that you can pick up your FREE copy at the resource desk at the library.  They also have a lot of free events related to Mark Twain and Tom Sawyer happening in October.  Our book club did this last year with “To Kill a Mockingbird” and it was awesome!

 

Freedom at last

I am now enjoying almost 3 hours of “alone” time – Yippee!!!  Haden started preschool at the beginning of this week and Connor finally got going in kindergarten.  Now it is just me an Garrick for 3 mornings a week---remind me, why did I decide to have another baby when this freedom was just around the corner?  Oh well, baby bonding time.

Connor took his Kindergarten evaluation on Monday, and let us just say I felt that the evaluation seemed more of a test on my skills as a mother, and I had absolutely no say in the entire thing – ACK!  Connor did better in some things than I anticipated, but still had his stubborn streak.  Oh well, he was absolutely thrilled to get to go to school and literally ran in the class before I even got past the end of the playground.  I just hope he keeps that attitude.

Haden started a neighborhood preschool this last week, and from what little I can get out of him, he loves it.  Both of my boys are not big in the communication department---hmmm…wonder where they get that from - Dan??!!  Thankfully, we have no problem getting him to read.  So at this point all I have to say is: YEAH SCHOOL!!

The “Real” Celebration

So we did the “real” celebration of our anniversary on Saturday.  I wanted to do something fun for the 2 of us like tube down the Provo River, but last week I went with my friend Stephanie to the new Lindon pool and absolutely LOVED it.  So I came home and informed Dan that for our anniversary I wanted to take him and the kids to the pool.  What a way to celebrate huh?  I figure that the anniversary was the start of our family, so we should do something to celebrate as a family.

Woot Woot!!  Didn’t I marry a sexy guy??!!  (Actually I was taking the picture blind, so I didn’t know about this pic until we got home, and then we thought it was absolutely hilarious)

Garrick all decked out in his new swimming suit.  Of course I forgot a hat for him, so we just lathered sunscreen all over his head.  He was cool with it though and just relaxed in his raft.  Nothing bothers that kid.

This was one of my favorite pics.  It was amazing just watching Dan interact with his boys.  He loves to play with them and it shows.  I guess heartwarming is the word that fits, however it just sounds cheesy.  Oh well, I guess life comes with it’s cheesy stuff as well.

After the pool, Heather came down to babysit and Dan and I took off to our traditional dinner at Los Hermanos (where we had our wedding luncheon) and then went to an Orem Owlz game. 

I love both of their expressions.  Dan totally had no idea what Garrick was doing.  I think he was sick of me taking pictures by this point.

A great weekend as a family.  Here’s to another 10 years.

How to celebrate an anniversary?

Okay, so here is how we celebrated our anniversary.  (Get your mind out of the gutters – this is G rated.)  I have wanted to do a slumber party for the boys and the cousins their age for awhile, and because of scheduling this last weekend was the only option available for awhile, so we took advantage.  So the night of our anniversary we had an extra 3 boys at our home.  It was actually a lot of fun.

We started off with pizza a rootbeer (a staple for boys) and then after having them beg to play the Wii for an hour we let them go crazy.  They were really good about sharing the Wii and loved rooting each other on even when they weren’t playing games. 

(Ethan and Lex give the goofiest faces) We tried to calm them down with a game of Uno and then it was PJ time and getting their beds ready in the tent trailer.  They were totally ecstatic to sleep outside. 

(Sorry about all the red eyes.  I am too lazy to fix things right now.)

We got them organized and popped a movie in.  They snuggled right in and had a blast.  They went to bed great and actually slept all night.

So how did we spend our anniversary?  Dan slept out in the trailer with all the boys and I had fun watching chick flicks and working on pictures inside the house.  Doesn’t that sound romantic?

Ten Years Here and Gone

Disclaimer: Sorry about the “my life is amazing, never any problems, blah, blah blah” post, but here I am joining the annoying blogging crowd, and it is simply because there were times I thought we would never get to this point. So please bear with me.

Anniversary Time! Wow! Can you believe it has been 10 years! As I look back, I wonder where it has all gone (doesn’t that sound trite?) and what happened. I have enjoyed my journey over the past decade, even though at times I may not have been very pleasant to travel with. Sorry honey, but thanks for loving me through it:)

August 21, 1999. My goodness….Don’t we look young? I guess there is a part of me that thinks I still look like that….Please don’t disillusion me. I like living in my own little world.

August 2000 (We had just moved into our house.)

July 2002 (Yep, I still had those bangs)

March 2004 (My least favorite picture)

March 2005 (Of course Connor got a mark on his forehead 2 days before pictures)

July 2006 (My favorite picture of the boys…unfortunately I have fingers growing out of my shoulder)

April 2008 (Hey look! The bangs are back!)

October 2008 (My all-time favorite family picture…Once again thanks Kat)

August 2009 (Obviously it is time to get a new family picture. Maybe when Garrick can actually sit by himself)

What an amazing life! I feel truly blessed to have Daniel and my boys. (Okay maybe not so much this second, since I am currently listening to the boys running/fighting upstairs when they should be taking a nap.) Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next 10 years.

Yuba Lake ‘09

Jacqui finally got all of us Preece’s motivated and organized a campout/boating trip at Yuba Lake last weekend.  It was surprisingly fun.  I say surprisingly since it was supposed to be awful weather, and I am not very big into sand.  (I HATE sand.  It gets everywhere!)  The weather wasn’t “too” bad (the wind was god-awful, but I was fine in my tent trailer) and it actually got kind of hot on Saturday.  Which was great for those who went out on the boat. 

 

I got a kick out of camping on the beach.  I have never done it before, and I would totally do it again (barring the twister-type winds).  We did a dutch oven dinner with Jacqui; and Kat made some amazing French Toast the next morning.  - BTW – Kat would you please post that Buttermilk Syrup recipe – Yum, YUM!

We had a total blast having a fire and doing s’mores for dessert.  We got the kids to bed and then had fun chatting until after midnight.  I never stay up that late camping!  It was great!

The kids put their swimming suits and life jackets on early and took off to the water.  However due to the wind I was terrified to bring out my camera, (we ruined a camera a couple of years ago when we were on a windy beach) so very few pictures. 

Awesome trip, and yes I am serious when I say I am totally willing to do it again (just not when a cold front is coming through!)  Thanks for the great idea Jacqui and for Kat getting us a boat!

He’s Going, Going, Gone

Ian, my little bro, went into the MTC on the 12th.  You know what that means!  TONS of family stuff for the previous weekend.  He did his farewell on Sunday, which was surprisingly good (although I am always pleasantly surprised when talks, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised anymore) and we had a big get together for family (and friends) afterwards. 

 

My Uncle Mike and cousin Collin came down and we had fun chatting (it has been a couple of years since I have seen Collin, at least it feels like it).  Tons of yummy treats and surprisingly my kids stayed out of it most of the time.  (When there is a Wii who needs treats!)  I forgot my camera, so sadly, no pictures. 

Tuesday night Ian was set apart as missionary, which was an amazing experience.  We had a Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner afterwards and had fun stuffing ourselves with turkey, ham, and oh yeah, mashed potatoes.  (no surprise for those who know us – the family mantra: Meat is a snack). 

My boys slept over with Grandma, and the next morning we got together for a yummy breakfast and a chance to say goodbye to Elder Harward (still weird to say).  It went all too fast, but he was ready to go and get started.  We miss him already.

It is hard to believe that we have 2 missionaries gone in our family.  Elder John Preece flew into Hong Kong this last week and we love hearing about his mission.  It is fun hearing how he has grown in the gospel, and his enthusiasm for teaching.  What an amazing young man!  We miss him so much, but know he is doing what he wants to do.

“Stay-cation” Day 4

The final day (Thank Goodness!) of our special family time.  We took it easy and simply took the boys to see Ice Age at a “real” movie theater.  They loved it!!  We normally don’t take the kids to movies and IF we do it is always the $1 movie so I don’t feel like I’ve wasted money when if my kids get bored part way through.  So here we are at the Cinemark:

Notice Connor trying to hide the fact that he has started sucking his thumb again.  (ANY suggestions please shoot them my way!)  Dan and I weren’t too impressed with the movie.  It was just OK.  They boys thought it was great though.  Of course, it has potty humor, what boy wouldn’t love that?

Saturday night for our final activity we took the boys to an Orem Owlz game.  They got free tickets through the summer reading program at the library and have been dying to go.  Surprisingly, I LOVED it.  Minor League Baseball is so much more entertaining than Major League. 

With our extra tickets we took my brother and sister, Chard & Krystal.  It was great having them to help distract the boys.  Garrick wasn’t sure about the whole thing, but did pretty well despite the cold weather. (Okay, who would believe having to wear jackets and have blankets at the BEGINNING of August.  It felt like I was at an October football game!)

What baseball game would be complete without peanuts?  Oh yeah, and then the peanut catching contest!

Haden was very serious about opening his peanuts.  He wasn’t happy that I interrupted him to get a picture.

   Garrick finally decided he liked being at the game. 

One of the main reasons we decided to go to the baseball game Saturday night was because of the “marriage” ceremony between the 2 mascots for the Owlz.  Hoot and Holly Owl were “married” after the game (try explaining that to my 5 year old) and they had fireworks to celebrate.

 

The fireworks were not that impressive (we saw a better show at our neighborhood shindig this year on the 4th), but the kids loved them and there were free cupcakes (wedding cake) after the game for the kids.  So it was all good.