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So much to be Thankful for.....

2010-11-28T12:12:00.000-08:00

Wow it really had been a long time since I have posted! I guess our lives are so crazy that sometimes finding the time just isn't that easy. With that said, we have been on vacation for about 2 weeks now, and I have finally found the time. We have had so much fun on our yearly vacation to St. George. We left the week before the big blizzard hit Idaho Falls, so we got here safe and sound and enjoyed the warmth while everyone at home fought the blizzard. Our family didn't get to make it this year, Dennis and Amber had a new baby boy earlier this month, as did Chris and Sommer, on the same day! Two new baby boys came into our family YAY! Mike and Ashley stayed home with her Family. Jon and Mary were going to come, but the blizzard kind of slowed their travels, and they stopped in Provo and stayed with Mary's family. Mom and Dad didn't make it out of town before the blizzard and they were stuck at home. I can't remember the last time they weren't here for Thanksgiving! We shared a wonderful Thanksgiving day with our dear friends the Balmforth's. It was too cold here to go on our usual Thanksgiving day ride, so we went on Friday when it was a little warmer (maybe 50) It was a beautiful day.

My boys are growing up way to fast. They wanted to ride their dirtbikes on a little loop before we went on the big loop, so we let them. They are getting so good on their bikes and it is so much fun to watch them ride and climb the hills. It's crazy to see where an 8 and 5 year old can ride their dirtbikes! Even Jackson who is 4 made it most of the way by himself. We are so proud of them!

Saturday we went to Tuacahn Ampitheater. It is a big ampitheater set out on the beautiful red rocks. They had the trees all lit, and there is a live Nativity play complete with goats, a mule and camel. The kids liked it, it reminds us of the "reason for the season"and I think it will be a new tradition to go there.

We will be heading back to Idaho in a few days, not sure I'm ready for all the snow and cold, but so ready for this holiday season. I love Christmas!

The Crazy 8's

2010-04-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

Tyler turned 8 last month - wow I can't believe that he is that old! That makes me old! We were in Moab on his birthday, and his dad took him and Kaden dirt biking on the Poison Spider trail. They had a blast, and slept really well that night! We had a fun trip to Moab for spring break. We met a lot of new people, and saw a ton of really cool jeeps.
When we got home, Tyler had his party on Friday at Blast off. We didn't really even see the kids because they played laser tag almost the entire time. They all had such a good time!
Saturday April 10th Tyler got baptized! First thing that morning we ran to Shelley, because Ty's cousin Allison who is 5 days older got baptised, then we rushed back to Ucon so Tyler could get ready. There were 9 kids in our stake being baptized, and most of the people that were there had some to support our family. We kind of took over the church. It was so good for Tyler to see how many people really love him. My sister even surprised us by driving here from Utah! WE were so surprised!!! His school teacher and close friends also came. We followed up by eating some really yummy food and visiting at our house. It was a great day.
Bryan and I are so proud of Tyler and the decision that he made to be baptized. We love you Tyler!!
This morning Tyler his Jackson when we were getting ready for church. Later when we were sitting in sacrament, Kaden leaned over to Ty and said "you know you have to repent now for hitting Jackson?" Bryan and I couldn't help but smile! I'm sure now whenever Tyler does anything wrong, Kaden and Jackson are going to remind him to repent!
Thank you to everyone who came to Ty's special day. We love you all!

hApPy NeW yEaR!

2010-01-05T13:13:00.000-08:00

Happy new year to everyone! My new years resolutions are to stay home more, enjoy my family and get more things done around the house!
That said, I have a lot of catching up to do! Christmas was great around our house. We pretty much started partying the Sunday before Christmas, and didn't stop until New Years. We have a lot of December birthdays, My Kadens is Dec 24th my sisters is the 23rd , my nephew Treyce is Christmas day and Bry's sisters is the 29th. My newest sister-in-law Amber had a birthday earlier in the month! Christmas eve is at my house, and my family comes over for prime rib, all sorts of other good food, and then we watch "Christmas Vacation". The kids usually open 1 present, and they all know that the present is going to be new PJ's.
Christmas day we opened presents at our house, then went to my moms for breakfast and more present exchanges. Then it was off to Bryans parents for more prime rib, and more presents. The kids had a lot of fun and got some really nice gifts. We really didn't over do it this year, and the kids seemed more into the presents that they got.
Earlier thie fall we were driving home from Moab, and our boys were talking about making a band. They were discussing who would play what instruments... Kaden the drums, Tyler the guitar and Jackson would sing. Bryan and I were just listening and laughing at them. Then we asked them what they were going to name their band...Kaden blurted out without any hesitation "the freaky bunnies"! I have no idea where is came from or if he had even listened to what came out of his Own mouth, but we couldn't stop laughing. What 4 year old comes up with a name like that? They all got their instruments for Christmas and have been practicing. The name has been changed to the "freaky monkeys" because Bryan and I always call the boys our monkeys.
Saturday after new years Shelley, Jairo and their family came up to go sledding at the Ucon pit. We had this old "kite tube" we had for boating but Bryan almost died using is a few years ago so it has sat in storage ever since. I said, why don't we blow it up and sled with it. It is huge, and fit my three oldest boys, Jairo and his 3 oldest kids all comfortably. We took it to the pit, hooked it up to Bry's Polaris razor and started pulling them around. They had a blast We found a little jump and slowly pulled them over it. They all cheered and said lets do it again, but go faster! Dennis and Amber came over too, and Bryan pulled Den and Tyler over the jump a few times also. We decided the kids were cold so we took them home, but they all wanted to stay out and ride the snowmachines. The kids all had fun and asked if we could do it again soon.
Bryan is getting ready to go to Costa Rica for a motorcycle trip, we hope he has fun and stays safe!
I'm sure that is enough babbling for now. Enjoy all the pix!

Whew...where does time go!

2009-09-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

So summer is almost gone.... and I'm finally posting some of our pictures. We had a lot go on at our home this summer. The boys rode their motorcycles on our track almost everyday, we had baseball - 6 games a week for the month of June. July was Swimming lessons, and Camp Invention for Tyler. He had a blast creating his invention out of broken appliance parts. August was all play time. We went boating a lot and to the sand dunes a few times. This month we are still boating as weather permits. Tyler has learned to Wake board, and we are so proud of him. It's kind of funny to watch such a skinny little boy out there on that big wake board but he does great. Kaden and Jackson like to Surf with Bryan. Bridger just mostly sleeps as the boat rocks him. I am the designated boat driver (scary I know!!)
My brother Dennis got married to a wonderful girl in August. It was a great day, we had a blast at the reception. Amber has nephews about the same ages as my boys and they ran around all night playing different games, while we all enjoyed the music of my dads band. We love you Amber and are glad that you joined our family!
Bryan and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary this summer. Wow time flies. I love him more than ever and can't imagine my life with out him.
Back to school means lots of driving for me - 3 trips a day to drop off and pick up the boys. It's worth it though, they are going to such a great school. We really love it there and love their teachers.
Now we are looking forward to our trip to Moab in October, and St. George in November. We'll have lots of pictures to post then....
Whew!

2009-07-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

What a busy month! July has gone by so fast, I can't believe it's almost over.
The first 2 weeks in July the kids had swimming lessons at Heise. They learned a lot and wanted to stay after and play every day! On the 12th we blessed our little Bridger boy. My sister, her husband and daughter were able to come up from Neola, so that made it even a better weekend. Our whole family was there, and Bryan gave the best blessing that I have ever heard. He definitely had the spirit with him in the circle that day. We had a great dinner and hung out for the rest of the day. It was great.
Later that week my sister, mom, sisters-in-law Mary and Sommer and our kids went to Hogle Zoo in Salt lake city. The kids had so much fun! It was great to see 6 little boys, and my cute little niece running around looking at all the animals. I can imagine what the animals thought of us!
On Friday that week, my brother and his wife Ashley had their first little baby boy - Triptyn Michael. He is such a cutie, and looks just like his dad, but with a full head of dark hair!
That same week Bry's sisters Sandy and Kristin and nephew Ryan had birthdays! This last week we had my brother Chris and Bryans birthdays.
I decided to throw a surprise party for Bry, and amazingly enough I actually pulled it off - Thanks for all the help everyone! We had a lot of fun
Tuesday Bridger had his 2 month check up and everything was good. He weighs 11lbs 9oz (49%) and is 23 and 1/2 inches long (89%). He is healthy and growing like a weed.
This weekend is our 11 year anniversary - trying to figure out something fun to do without our the kids... any ideas?? The kids are all doing events at the Little Buckaroo Rodeo on Saturday, and last year it was quite comical so I'm sure I'll have pics to post from that.
Whew - until next time!!

What goes on when Mom is gone.....

2009-06-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

So today I had to run to the grocery store, so I left the 3 older boys with Bry and the baby and I ran to Fred Meyer. Bryan was in the office working, and the kids were quietly watching tv when I left. When I got home, a mere 45 minutes later, there were couch pillows all over the floor, and the kids were a little more wound up than when I had left. Tyler came up to me and said "Mom, want to something really funny? I took you camera without permission...." Tyler takes the camera quite often, but there is usually nothing of significance to look at when he is done with it. He started scrolling through the pictures, and comes to these 3 pictures. The first one he shows me is Jackson flying through the air, and Kaden standing there to catch him with his arms wide open. I started laughing, and then realized why the pillows were all over the floor!!! Funny thing is there's no picture to document the landing, but I'm sure it didn't end well, especially for Kaden! Good Job Ty, these are great pictures!
On Another note, Bridger is doing great, he is such a sweet boy, and still never cries. He had his 2 week check up last Friday, and has gained 11 ounces and 1/2 an inch since he went to the Dr. when he was 5 days old. His cheeks and chin are starting to fill out. He is still not chunky by any means though. He is such a great little boy!

He's Here!!!

2009-05-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

Bridger Ray Landon was born on Thursday afternoon at 4:56 p.m. He weighs 6 lbs 15 oz. and is 20 1/2 inches long. He was by far my easiest birth! Probably due to his small size and small head, at least compared to my other boys! He is doing great, and hasn't even cried since he first came into this world. His first act of love was to pee all over me as soon as they set him on my stomach! Typical boy. He has his own look, just like all my boys and doesn't look too much like 1 particular person. We came home today at noon, and he still hasn't made a peep. Tyler, Kaden and Jackson love him so much already. They wont stop fighting over who gets to hold him next! I've been surprised how attached Jackson is to the baby already. I thought he wouldn't want much to do with a new baby, but he has done great.
Thanks to all those friends and family who came to meet Bridger in the hospital, we appreciate it.
We are so happy to have this beautiful helathy little boy join our family, and look forward to all the new memories that he will give us.

So Busy...yet nothing is going on!

2009-03-10T19:25:00.001-07:00

I have no excuses for not updating our blog... We have been so busy, but can't exactly tell you what we've been doing! Just the normal everyday boring stuff. I am finally getting around to posting our pix from the Landon family trip to California in January. Bryan's whole family went to Disneyland for a week in January. We spent 4 days at Disney Land, 1 day at Newport beach, and then a few of us went to the San Diego Wild Animal park. Then everyone but us headed home. We had a lot of fun at Disneyland, but most of all my boys loved the beach. They love to dig and make sand castles. The water was absolutely freezing, but it didn't stop them from getting right in. They all body surfed with Bryan and loved it. We saw quite a few Dolphins right off the coast as well, that was pretty cool.
Our family stayed in Cali for the 2nd Anaheim Supercross race on Saturday. Those of you who know our family, know we love motorcycles. We jumped at the chance to stay a couple of extra days in Cali to go to the race. We spent the day walking through the pits and then watched the race that night. It was awesome, the boys loved every minute of it.
I will have to admit that the most memorable part of the trip was the ride home. We drove the Suburban. My sister and her husband were in Mesquite. NV for the weekend, so we stopped and said hi to them on our way through. My brother Dennis and his friends were also there riding dirt bikes, and were headed home as well. We got a little past Cedar City, when my bro called, and said his truck was broke down. We drove back about 30 miles, and towed his Ford with a trailer full of m-bikes back to Cedar City - with my suburban. You all know Bryan doesn't drive slow, we were pulling them about 65 mph. I thought the suburban was going to blow up! We towed them to a dealership in Cedar City, and found out there were no rental car places open... it was a Sunday in Utah! So, we piled my brother and his 3 friends into the Suburban, and hooked on to their trailer and emptied all the stuff out of the back of the suburban into the trlr. Keep in mind we already had my 3 boys, husband, and Ryan (our good friend and employee) so 6 people. The Suburban seats 8..... you do the math! Needless to say 2 of Dens friends sat in the very back of the Suburban with no seats. We did give them some blankets and stuff to keep comfy. It was quite a cramped ride home! Our 12 hour drive from CA to home actually took almost 15 hours. It was a very long day. needless to say, we made it in 1 piece!
We have a few more trips planned before the baby comes, lets just hope I make it to them. This weekend is my Niece Teddy Jo's b-day party so we are headed to that, then in a couple of weeks to the Annual Jeep Safari in Moab.
I will post pictures from those trips when I get a moment of peace and quiet... so don't expect them anytime soon!!!

YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK IF.......

2009-02-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

You might be a redneck from Ucon if...... you convert a school bus into your motorcycle transport vehicle, and pack 8 of your best friends, 3 smelly used couches, 1 recliner complete with a greased headrest, a 25 inch tv bungee strapped to a milk crate, speakers mounted into the plywood garage divider wall.... and leave the letters "C OOL" on the side of the bus!!!!
I love my brothers and their friends to death but this one takes the cake!!! They are presently on their way to spend the rest of the week in Mesquite for their yearly boys trip. I'm pretty sure that it will take them a good 12 hours to make it there, given the max speed of 60 mph, and who knows how much fuel. Oh well, they are having fun, and the rest of us get a good laugh out of it too!
Drive safely boys, and have fun

2009-01-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful holiday this year! We start off by having my sisters birthday on the 23rd, then Kadens on the 24th and then my nephew Treyce's on the 25th, not to mention Christmas eve dinner, and Christmas. It seems like we start partying a week before Christmas. We went bowling on the 22nd for Kadens birthday party. The kids had a blast! Afterwords we had pizza and cake and ice cream at our house for all the adults who couldn't make it bowling. We had a very nasty storm that day so mot of Bryans family didn't make to our house from Shelly because of all the snow. Tuesday we had Treyce's 3rd b-day party ad Leo's. The on Christmas eve I cooked a prime rib, and my family came over for dinner and our tradition of watching "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation". We all have it memorized, but still find it quite amusing to watch! Cristmas morning the kids woke up around 8 am and they went out to see what santa brought them. After prying them away from their new toys we went to my moms next door for breakfast, and more presents. Dinner was at 2 at Bryans parents in Shelley. The kids exchanged gifts from each other. The adults passed this year... because we are all taking our families to Disneyland on Jan 10. Bryans mom bought all the tickets into the park for our presents. The kids are pretty excited, we leave next Friday. Now I am looking forward to the kids going back to school, and me getting my house back in order. It's to impossible when the kids are home all day!

Christmas comes early!

2008-12-13T20:44:00.001-08:00

So today Tyler and Kaden woke up and saw all the snow, and they were so excited. One of the first things that Ty asked Bryan was if he could ride his snowmachine. The boys got a little Polaris for Christmas last year, and they loved it. Bryan told Tyler that he couldn't get it started the other day when he got it out of storage, and that he needed to take it to the shop and have it looked at. Well, about an hour later, Bryan Ty and Kaden left for the snowmachine shop. They were gone for over 4 hours..... which usually means trouble. I finally called Bry and he said they were on their way home, and that they had bought a new snowmachine. Tyler had been asking Bryan to get his worked on so it would go faster (typical Tyler)...... so they just bought a new one that already had the mods done. Bryan proceeded to tell me that he was going to trade the old one in on the new one, but then Ty and Kaden would just fight over the 1. Now we have 2! It worked out great because now Kaden can ride the slower one, and Tyler can ride the faster one. As soon as they got home they put on their snow clothes and were off. Tyler was such a good brother, he slowed down long enough to give Jackson a rider for a few minutes. Guess I can take back the other presents that I already bought???...... yeah right my kids are spoiled!

2008-11-24T08:47:00.001-08:00

OK... now that I am on vacation I have actually had some time to fix my blog, and add some new stuff. We got here on Wednesday - actually by the time we got into our condo it was 1:15 am on Thursday... anyway, we have been having a lot of fun. Bryan went riding with some of his friends who were here from Monteview/mudlake, and I took the kids to the park, and just hung out for a couple of days. Friday evening Mike and Steph got here and we went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Saturday we took the jeep, and they took their Rhino out to our favorite spot to do some riding. It was a super nice day, sunny and about 60 degrees. The kids had so much fun playing with their friends, hiking up the rocks, and finding little caves to hide in. Sunday we decided to go to Zions Canyon. I am the only person who had been there, so it was fun to take my family to see what I had been able to see when I was little. It was beautiful. We got out and hiked up this really big rock hill. The kids loved the mile long tunnel that you get to go through. It's pretty cool. Who knows what we have in store for today.... but I'm sure it will be fun.

Halloween!

2008-10-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

I Love this time of year! I love the fall colors, and the cooler weather, and I love Halloween. We only go trick-or-treating to a few of our friends and family, and don't overload on the candy, but the kids have fun. THis year Ty was s mummy, Kaden was Superman and Jackson was Batman. At the Family Halloween party last weekend, Bry and I also dressed up - as disco mom and pop. It was a lot of fun. I put some pictures below all the posts. I really need to redo my layout!!!

I'm It.... again

2008-10-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

My friend Jeni tagged me - this one was fun. You open up your "my pictures" folder, go to the 4th folder, and find the 4th picture in that folder. This is the picture. It's of Jackson when he was about 8 months old. He's asleep on his Grandpa Ivans lap. This is the cutest picture because Jacksons middle name is Ivan, and he looks just like his grandpa, right on down to his bowl legged legs, just like his grandpa. It's fun to look back and see your little ones before they were not so little!
Now I tag: Cindy Lou, Shelly, Ashley and Sommer

88888

2008-10-08T19:07:00.000-07:00

Eight - Eight - Eight
Eight TV Shows I Love to Watch
1: Grays Anatomy
2: The Unit
3: Top Gear (show about really cool cars with 3 hillarious hosts!)
4: Private Practice
5: Chuck
6: Dancing with the Stars
7: Dora
8: Bob The Builder

8 Things That Happenend Yesterday
1: Took Jackson to Dr. for 2 yr old checkup and shots
2: Picked up kids from school
3: Rode Motorcycles with my boys
4: Went to the Bank
5: Read books and played Blukus with the boys
6: Got Pizza for dinner
7: Who knows .... it's all a blur
8: Woke up in the middle of the nite because a stink bug (literally) was in our bed.

8 Favorite Places to Eat(Not in any particular order)
1: Pasta Factory (St. George)
2: Paulas Mexican Cantina (St. George)
3: Olive Garden
4: Outback
5: Texas Roadhouse
6: Mrs. Powells
7: Snake Bite
8: Fiesta Ole??

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To
1: SLC trip with girlfriends on Friday
2: Cindy coming up to Idaho
3: Going to Mexico in January
4: Going to St. George for Thanksgiving
5: Putting the boys to bed for some peace and quest
6: My house to someday stay clean for more than 5 minutes
7: Gettin my office organized
8: Warmer weather again

8 Things on My Wish List
1: Mercedes C-63 MG (ha ha!)
2: BMW M-5 (lets be realistic!)
3: My house staying clean
4: a better economy
5: A new wardrobe
6: A bedrom set
7: my basement to be finished
8: Did I mention a full night of sleep? - yes that would be nice too!

8 People I Tag
1: Shelley
2: Sandy
3: Debbie
4: Stephanie
5: Kristin
6: Sommer
7: Ashley
8: Becca

Update on Teddy Jo

2008-09-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

Teddy came out of her surgery fine on Wednesday. They were able to bypass ICU and take her directly to her room. She has been on a steady dose of pain meds, that are making her sleepy. They won't let her eat anything, until atleast tonight, or maybe tomorrow. The Dr's want to make sure her insides are coping with the surgery before they introduce food back into her system. So far she is being a trooper! I am trying to work it out so I can leave Saturday afternoon, and head down to spend some time with them.

My Niece

2008-09-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, my sisters 6 month old baby girl Teddy Jo was diagnosed with cancer about 1 month ago. They have been going back and forth to Primary Childrens for various tests to find out if it has spread into any other parts of her body. She has done a couple of MRI's a lot of blood tests and a bone marrow tap. All the tests came back with the same result, that it had not spread from her adrenal gland. They scheduled her for surgery to take out the tumor - she is in the operating room right now. My sister just called and said the doctor came out and informed them that the tumor had "fingers" and such that had spread into her kidney. He told them they could leave the kidney and do chemo to try to shrink them, but if it didn't work they would have to do another surgery to take out the kidney. The doctor told them that if it were his daughter, that he would take out the kidney now. Cindy and her husband decided that was the best option. I asked her if people with 1 kidney have any long term effects, and she said no, but that Teddy wouldn't be able to play any contact sports, such as football. Darn!
We are all praying for our dear little Teddy Jo. She is such a sweet sweet baby girl and we love her so much! My only wish is that they lived closer (Neola, UT) so that I could squeeze and kiss her more!
I'll update everyone again when she is out of surgery. She will be in the hospital for at least a week.

Marker mania

2008-09-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

Jackson has a recent fascination with coloring. The other night, he snuck into the office, and found a sharpie. A few minutes later he came walking out of his room and said very proudly "I color mommy!" He was so proud of himself. If was permanent black marker - all over his tummy. The best part was that he had put one of his shoes on, and his hat on backwards. He looked like a little punk. By the time I found my camera, he realized that he was in trouble, and didn't want his picture taken. He is a marker finding fool - he keeps finding them, and I don't know where he is getting them! He has since colored his leg and arm. Maybe he'll be an artist when he grows up.

2008-08-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

The boys had their first day of school today. They were very excited. I think Kaden was most excited about wearing his new shoes that I hadn't let him wear for a month now! When I picked Kaden up after school he said he had a fun time and met some new friends, but he didn't know their names! His class is full, which means about 20 students. He has 2 teachers and an intern. Tyler only has 5 kids in his class, and they are all boys. I like that their school has smaller class sizes. The kids get so much more 1 on 1 time from their teacher.
Now we have to get back on our schedule, and Jackson and I need to figure out what to do with our 3 hours a day with no older brothers. Too bad the mall doesn't open until 10am!!!

2008-08-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well - I finally did it! Our family now has a blog. I can't promise that I will be kept up to date, but hey it's the thought that counts. I keep thinking that things are going to slow down as summer winds down, but it only seems to be getting busier.
Tyler and Kaden start school on Thursday. Ty will be in the 1st grade and Kaden will go to preschool. They go to school at Lighthouse Montessori in Idaho Falls. IT is such a wonderful school, we love it. The kids can't wait to get back. They went to "Summer Safari" at the school 2 days a week during the summer, and had so much fun. Ty's class took a lot of really fun field trips, and Kaden's class had a waterday every Wednesday. They loved it! That just leaves me and Jackson at home.
Bryan and I are so busy trying to keep up with the business. I am trying to keep the office in order. Bryan is trying to keep all the jobs going, and all the guys lined out. Somedays it's really crazy.