What's this? An update?

 This is the boys first day of school.  Taylor started Kindergarten this year.  I can not believe he is old enough to be in school.  It has been an adjustment for me because Kindergarten is all day here.  It seems strange to be alone all day after nearly 13 years of having babies home with me.  I have found ways to stay busy though.  Dallin is in the 2nd grade.  He loves his teacher and his classroom becuase they have a pet hedgehog in the class.  What could be better for a boy who loves animals?  Spencer is in the 5th grade and is on the safety patrol this year.  Alex is in 7th grade and is in the Jazz Band and the Symphonic Band at school and loves playing his trumpet!

 This year for Halloween we only had one Star Wars character!  Taylor was Savag from the Clone Wars, Dallin was a vampire, and Alex and Spencer were Demi-god Half Camp Blood campers (From the book the Lightning Thief).  Ok so we had more than one Star Wars character!

 This is the scene of our latest and much needed vacation.  We went to Little Gasparilla Island and stayed there in a beach house for 5 days!  It was beautiful and we had such a great time relaxing, reading, playing in the sand and collecting shells.  We are already planning our trip next year.  Anyone want to join us?!

Spencer worked hard to earn his Arrow of Light and his Webelos badge!  We are so proud of him!

 Taylor was an Indian in his class Thanksgiving program!  They learned lots of songs and were sooo cute!  He was so excited for me to come and watch him.

Catching Up

OK. So first there was Halloween.

Then Dallin turned 7! What? He has gotten so big, so fast! He is the best, sweetest, most tenderhearted 7 year old in the world. He always wants to do what is right. We love him!

Then, we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party! Lots of free hot chocolate and cookies and very few lines. It was so much fun! Loved every minute of the fake snow and Christmas music!

We decided also to take the boys to Universal to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! It was so much fun and the boys absolutly loved it! So did Ryan and I. We can't wait to go again one of these days.

Alex turned 12! What happened to that cute little 3 year old? He was so excited to turn 12 and graduate from Primary and move into the Young Men's program. He loves being able to go to scouts and YM activities. Especially when they play basketball!

We had a great Christmas too! We went to see Tron Legacy on Christmas Eve and then went out for a nice dinner. We came home and relaxed and the boys opened their Christmas PJ's. On Christsmas Day we just relaxed and played with our toys. It was a great day!

Grandma and Grandpa Barson came to see Alex ordained a deacon. It was so nice to have them here. I can't believe that Alex is a deacon either. I am so proud of him! He takes his resposibilities very seriously and is so happy to be a priesthood holder. He always tries to do the right things and make good choices.

On January 1st Ryan, Alex, and Grandpa Barson went to the Capitol One Bowl. They had a great time and want to go again next year. I guess that is the nice thing about living 20 minutes from the Citrus Bowl.

And last but not least, we added a new member to our family. This is Cosmo. He is about 9 months old, and really the jury is still out on this addition! He is really pretty good, but he is a cat. And I am not sure that I am really a cat person. Maybe its just that he meows at me all day and I am not sure what he wants. Oh well. Ryan, Dallin, and Taylor think he is great so I guess he is a keeper!

WHEW!!!

What? I have a blog? Huh.

Yes, I have been a slacker when in comes to blogging. Just too much to catch up on and not enough motivation to get it done. I am going to try. No promises though!

Little Gasparilla Island

A few months ago a coworker of Ryans offered us a beach house for the weekend. We were finally able to take him up on the offer. It was about 3 hours from our house on the gulf side of Florida on Little Gasparilla Island. We had such a great time! It was so relaxing! the house was right on the beach. We could sit on balcony and watch dolphins jumping! It was so nice to just sit and relax and not have to do anything! I am ready to go back!

Digging for shark teeth.

Relaxing in the hammock.

Alex digging for shark teeth in a pile of shells.

The view from the balcony. Dallin is pretty cute too!

The boys are sitting on a whole mountain of shells. There were millions of shells! We spent hours walking the beach looking for shells and shark teeth.

Spencer is 10!

It is unbelievable to me that Spencer is 10 years old! He is growing up so fast. I don't know when he turned from a chubby little baby to a tall, skinny 10 year old. It seems to me that it happened over night. Spencer is such an awesome kid! He loves to play with legos. If I haven't heard from him in a while I can always find him in his bedroom building something incredible out of legos. He is also getting to be a pretty good skateboard rider. He is still pretty quiet and doesn't like to draw attention to himself, but when he does find himself in the spotlight he can be a real clown! He loves to have people laugh at the silly things he says and does. He is so much fun to have in our house! We love you Spencer!

Weekend Fun

Anybody want to come and join us?!