Summer Sun

It's summer now.  It's been so long since we've blogged and there is no way I could catch up.  Here's a very quick recap:

---Kayden completed 1st grade
---We went to Sacramento for the kids to attend the annual Grandma & Grandpa Hutchings camp
---Chad was the Grinch in the Kaysville City musical, Seussical the Musical (he and the entire show were so good!)
---2 weeks of swim lessons
---Camping in the backyard
---Parade, BBQ and fireworks with cousins over July 4th

and lots of water, crafting, building, playing, gardening, exploring, day trips to water parks, aquarium, etc.

The picture above just sums up our summer so far. . . everything BOY and SUMMER!  (They were all sweating in the jeans, but we were doing some annual pictures of them.)

Promises on future blogging in the summer cannot be made with 4 boys at home and some summer relaxing, but we hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as we are ours.

Spring Break 2010

Monday:

We made a rainy day craft inside in the morning and then went and saw How to Train Your Dragon with our friends, the Lewis family, in the afternoon. Everyone enjoyed it, except the man in front of McCoy who was the sad recipient of McCoy's sippy cup flying through the air and into his head. Luckily, he had kids with him and didn't seem to mind that much.

Tuesday:

Sledding

We woke up to 8.5 inches of snow on Tuesday and decided to make the best of it and go sledding.

Wednesday:

Goblin Valley State Park

We left early Wednesday morning to head southeast. Our first stop was Goblin Valley - a boys paradise!

Thursday:

Indian Ruins and Natural Bridges National Monument

We hiked to see the cliff dwellings that we at a random stop on the side of the road and then at Natural Bridges we took this hike that literally went down the side of a cliff. The path was steps that were chiseled out of the side of the cliff face. Needless to say, I was quite a bit weary of the whole idea, but it was definitely worth the hike!

Friday:

Canyonlands National Park

Beautiful park with a lot of fun hiking trails. The boys especially enjoyed Whale Rock, which is basically this giant rock that looks like a whale and you get to hike up the back up of it. That night we stayed in Moab and it was warm enough for us all to swim in the hotel's outdoor pool.

On the way to Moab, we turned on a quick byway and were able to see some petroglyphs and dinosaur tracks.

Saturday:

Arches National Park

This place is breathtaking! The boys made it on hikes to quite a few arches, but they enjoyed the Sand Dunes Arch the best where they were able to play in really fine sand. After we were done here, we headed back north.

Easter 2010

We celebrated Easter here at home with Chad's brother, Kelby. His family moved to Missouri and he will be following in a few weeks. We were able to dye eggs, and then the Easter Bunny came and delivered baskets.

The easter bunny brought Kayden and Boston new Bionicles, McCoy a couple fun books like "There's a party in my tummy!" from Yo Gabba Gabba and Azure a new baby carrier.

The easter bunny hid chocolate eggs inside and our dyed eggs outside. It was fun for everyone to find the eggs!

The 3 older boys each got new church clothes and when the time came to take their pictures, they were not the most thrilled to show them off.

Azure's Blessing

We blessed Azure on Sunday, March 7. It was such a nice blessing and a really nice gathering afterward for food and visiting. Azure slept through it all.

Here are the pictures of family that was here for the big day.

Our family - FOUR boys!

All the kids that were here. Snapped this one and then let them run off to play. You can't have a kid picture without screaming ones - love it!

Adults from Beth's side of the family. Jeremy and Christina Jones, Pat Snow, Chad and Beth with Azure, Sandi Candland, Kathy Turpin, Rich Candland, Howard Turpin, Scott Turpin

Adults from Chad's side of the family. Shaun and Cat Hutchings, Chad with Azure and Beth, Kelby Hutchings

Men in the blessing circle. Cameron Lewis, Shaun Hutchings, Kelby Hutchings, Chad with Azure, Rich Candland, Scott Turpin, Howard Turpin

Our kids with their Grandma and Grandpa Candland and Great Grandma Snow

February Fun

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day we had 3 of Chad's siblings and their families and also Chad's parents here to visit. We had a dinner with mostly pink items and played games and visited a lot. The day before, we celebrated a birthday - Shaun, Chad's brother - complete with a train cake and pinata.

A week before the holiday, we all decorated jars for others to put nice thoughts and notes into. Chad's parents were here to help out after Azure's birth, so they had a jar too.

Grandma and Grandpa making Valentine's sugar cookies with the boys. The kids ate about half the dough, so we had to make three batches.

Kite Flying

While my mom was here for Azure's birth, she got each of the boys a kite. Kayden had been monitoring the wind daily in anticipation of being able to fly it, so we finally found the right day.

Kayden flying his dragon kite.

McCoy waiting for his turn with his kite.

Boston was very excited to go kite flying, but once we got there, he nicely asked if it was ok if he just played in the sand/dirt. If you refer to my post about sledding, the same kind of thing happened. He'd rather be digging!