7 Years of Bayley Fun!

It's hard to believe it but Bayley turned 7 years old last week! As I was reflecting on the first 7 years of her life, I have to say that she has had a very busy and fun life thus far. She has lived in 4 different states, moved 6 times, travelled to over 15 states and really done a lot of really cool things. She is really a beautiful girl with a beautiful spirit. Bayley has ALWAYS been a very independent little girl, but at seven she has started to push the limits of her independence and really acts a lot older than she is. We love Bayley and the great energy she brings to our home. Here are a few highlights of who Bayley is at 7 years old:

• Bayley is a great big sister, however, like most children with siblings her younger sister and brother sometimes get on her nerves. She does tolerate them very well and enjoys sometimes taking a motherly role with them.
• Bayley favorite subject in school is math and she is very good at it...she did take after her mom in her love of numbers and math!
• Bayley is an excellent dancer and a swimmer! She is in a dance class with older girls, but fits in very well. She would love to get her toe shoes next week, but according to her dance instructor that is still quite a few years away. We are still trying to decide whether or not to do swim team this year. She loves to swim, but swim team is a huge commitment...they practice 2-3 times a week then have all day meets on the weekend. I'm not sure we want to get that serious this soon!
• Bayley loves to work with her hands. She loves crafts, Legos, digging, cake decorating and just about anything else you can do with her hands. She is very creative and pushes me to my creative limits just to keep up!
• Bayley has a very tender heart. We have a running joke that we know when a movie is over because we hear Bayley sniffling (she cries at happy and sad endings).
• Bayley loves a good story. She loves fiction and well as non-fiction stories. She would have me read to her all day if I could. Her favorite question in the car is "will you tell me a story when you were little?". I can't tell you how many stories we have told and retold in the car. She is just about to a point in her reading skills, that she will be able to sit down and read chapter books alone...I hope her love of stories translate into a love of reading!
• Bayley loves to watch television! I have a feeling that most kids her age do and like her would watch all day given the opportunity, however because she limited in her television watching I think it makes her want it even more. Even though I would never do this, I am pretty sure that I could leave her home alone all day with the television on and she would be in the same place that I left her when I returned home.
• Bayley loves a good road trip. She is a very travelled young girl. As I mentioned earlier she has already visited over 15 states and has a list accumulating of places she would like to visit. Because she has travelled so much, she is a great traveller.
• Bayley is a people person. She has never been very shy and loves to talk to anyone that will listen. The other day I was in Wal-mart and I turned around and she was in a full conversation with one of the employees....a very common occurrence. She is very inquisitive and not at all afraid to ask questions...and lots of them!
• Bayley is a scriptorian. On Sundays one of her favorite things to do is listen to the stories of the Book of Mormon on the computer. Because of this, she knows the stories extremely well. I hope her love of the scriptures continues as she begins reading them on her own.
• Bayley loves a good party. She loves everything about a party...the food, the cake, the games, the presents, the decorations....everything! We start planning her party for her birthday the day after the prior year's party is over. We talk about it all year long! She did have a birthday party this year and it was supposed to be a swimming party. Unfortunately Mother Nature did not cooperate this year, so we played games, games and more games! I would still consider the party a success however, next year we will pray for no rain!

Bayley is the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl that I always wished for but never thought I would have. We love her so much and are so proud of the girl she is! Happy 7th Birthday, Bayley!

Catch Up Time

Not only has the last week been pretty busy, but I have also been trying to squeeze in reading time in my efforts to finish Breaking Dawn. Hence, not very much time to blog. I still am not finished with the book, about 200 more pages, but I couldn't go to sleep last night thinking about all of the things that I haven't recorded yet and that I needed to get blogged (this is sort of my journal, so I am doing this not only for myself but for posterity's sakeas well). Here are some of the highlights:

• Tuesday we headed to Six Flags. Along with our kids we also took a couple of Bayley's friends from church, Madeline and Carter. It worked out well having them come, because it gave the Bayley, especially, someone to ride the rides with. It was a hot day, almost 100 degrees, but I think because of the heat and it was the last week before school started, the park was not very crowded. We were able to ride just about all of the rides that we wanted to, with little to no wait. The dramamine worked well for me, but I think the medicine made Jeff a little drowsy (even though it was the less-drowsy kind). For the first time in a long time I was able to ride some pretty intense roller coasters, with few adverse effects. It was a lot of fun. The girls even got brave and both of them rode the Mindbender, which is a big roller coaster that goes upside down twice. It wasn't their favorite, but they survived.
• Wednesday Kendal got her cast off...see 2 posts below.
• Thursday Bayley started back to school. She has Mrs. Clark this year, who is the teacher she wanted for 2nd grade. Mrs. Clark especially enjoys math which is also Bayley's favority subject. We are looking forward to a great school year. Kendal is getting school fever...the first morning of school she was up and dressed with her bookbag ready to head out the door. Only one more year!
• The weekend was pretty relaxed...a much needed reprieve!
• Sunday was Trey's birthday! See post below.

Those are the highlights of the last week. I can't believe that school is in session and that summer is pretty much over. Oh well, we are looking forward to dance starting back up, soccer starting and maybe swim team. I guess its time to get back on schedule.

TREY turns 2!

Trey's birthday was Sunday, August 10th! I can't believe that my baby is 2 years old. He is such a funny kid. His sisters were more excited about his birthday than he was, but I think by the end of the day he was beginning to figure out that it was his special day. The girls decided that Trey would love donuts for his birthday breakfast. It is true that Trey loves donuts (he has a sweet tooth like the rest of us), however I think his sisters enjoyed the breakfast even more. We headed off to church Sunday morning, but didn't get to stay long because Kendal wasn't feeling well. So I packed up Kendal and Trey and started to head home. Trey was devestated that he was going to miss nursery. He threw a fit when he realized that we were leaving church before nursery. After we returned home I tried to get Trey to take a nap, but he wasn't having any of it. Sunday afternoon Grandma and Grandpa "G" came to eat dinner and celebrate Trey's birthday with us. The girls did a "beautiful" job decorating the cake and wrapping Trey's presents. We had a great day.

Here are some of the highlights of what Trey is up to at 2 years old:

• Trey is infatuated with long hair. He loves to play with my hair and if his sisters would let him I'm sure that he would play with their hair as well. When my hair is unavailable he has found a good substitute...Barbie! Yes, my son likes to carry around a Barbie doll. He really isn't as interested in Barbie as much as he is interested in Barbie's hair. He brings me hair bands to fix Barbie's hair and you will most of them time see him stroking her long locks!


• Trey isn't saying very many words as of yet, but he can have a full conversation with you in grunts. One of the words that is very clearly understood is "Barbie". Other words he says well include milk, cereal, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, Bayley, Kendal, sissy, dog, duck, house, shoes, and Heidi. He can say more words when prompted, but in everyday conversation he reverts back to his grunts. Although he doesn't say much, he understands everything that you say. He misses very little of our conversations and when he feels the need to interject he does so in a series of excited grunts.


• Trey loves to do "cannon balls" in the pool. It is so much fun to watch my kids learn to love swimming and the water. At the beginning of swim season, Trey was terrified. Now he is a little fish who loves to do "cannon balls".


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  Trey loves his big sisters! Sometimes his sisters have a little too much influence on their little brother and the things that he does, but I do think that the time spent playing babies with his sisters will help him be a great father!


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  Trey is easily spooked! I have to admit that I deserve the majority of the blame for how easily he gets scared...all of those boos as he comes running around the corner, as well as scary noises when we open closet doors, however it is pretty funny to watch his face as he describes something scary.


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  Trey makes the funniest faces. He loves to do goofy things. You never know what he is going to do.


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  Trey enjoys music and dancing. Once again, I think he has been greatly influenced by his older sisters, but he does love music and dancing.

WE LOVE YOU, TREY!

"One Tough Cookie"

Kendal's Last week with the Cast

Maybe it is because she is young and doesn't know that when you are hurt you have the "right" to complain or maybe it is because she is just one tough girl, but I have to give my 4-year old Kendal some props. For the last 5 weeks she has endured having a broken arm. For four of those weeks she was stuck with a full arm cast that was not waterproof. Despite our best efforts to protect the cast from getting wet, almost everytime she tried to swim it still got wet. So for the last 3 weeks that she had her cast on, she decided that she would stay in and watch the movie "Underdog" while her family swam. Not once did Kendal complain about not being able to swim. In fact I was beginning to wonder if watching "Underdog" was really more exciting to her than swimming. However, I quickly realized that she still loves swimming and that sitting out a couple of weeks was just part of having a broken arm. The first day she got her cast off she was so excited to go swimming, that she actually asked to go twice that day. Of course I said yes, because I was excited for her too. After going to the orthopedist last week, the bones looked like they were healing well enough that she was able to return home with just a removable brace that she is supposed to wear for the next 4 weeks. She has been very good about keeping her brace on and is still very careful with her arm. However, slowly but surely she is trying new things with her hurt arm. Given the two cast we have endured this summer, I have to say I have been very lucky. Both Trey and Kendal were champs about having their casts and neither of them EVER complained!

Kendal with only a BRACE!

Lake Highlights, Race Results

The kids ready for 4-wheeling


So this last week the kids and I headed to Georgia to spend time with Spencer, Leigh and Spence. They were kind enough to invite us to spend a couple of days with them at Lake Hiawasee, in North Carolina. While there we went 4-wheeling, tubing, knee-boarding (I attempted, Bayley succeeded), and water-skiing. It was a lot of fun! The tube was much sturdier than the ones that we currently own, which I think was a little boring for Bayley but very enjoyable for myself and Trey. Kendal avoided the water because of her cast, but still enjoyed just hanging out on the boat. We had a great time!Trey even enjoyed this tube experience
Bayley thought standing up made the tube a little more thrillingBayley and Leigh kneeboarding (Bayley was pretty upset she couldn't figure out how to get outside the wake)Kendal didn't let a broken arm ruin her lake experience
I got up...it wasn't pretty but I was up

This last weekend our family as well as Spencer and Leigh, participated in the Woodstock 5k (a local road race). We had a great time. The adults ran their 5k race while the kids played, then the kids ran a 1 mile race while we cheered. I wasn't sure how the girls would do, but both did very well considering it was the first time they had participated in that type of race. In fact, Bayley ran a 9:14 mile and Kendal a 10:14 mile. After the race we relaxed by the pool during the afternoon as we recuperated from our morning exertion. We plan on trying to run about a race a month to keep us motivated to exercise, plus they really are a lot of fun!
The girls before the Race
Finishing is always the best part of any race!


Bayley starts school this Thursday, so we are trying to fit in the last couple of things that we NEED to do this summer into the beginning of this week. We are headed to Six Flags tomorrow as a family. Hopefully it will be a good time....Jeff and I are going to load up on the dramamine in hopes that we can accompany the kids on the rides. Wish us luck!