LAGOON

The second weekend in June all of us (minus Brayden, because he had to work) went to Lagoon for my companies Lagoon Day. They were so great to schedule it when we had all of our boys! Yes, they love me at work so they did it just for me. Just teasing, I helped a tiny bit with the planning. Well really just reminded the guys in charge that we should probably start planning something soon, so everyone would have time to figure out their schedules. So they asked me what weekend they should do it and I said the 13th would be a great weekend. So that's how it worked out that we had all of the boys...

Since the weather has been so weird this summer it just so happened that rain was predicted for that Saturday. I felt soooo bad because I chose the date. It all worked out perfectly though, the weather was just a little overcast and it didn't end up raining until around 4. Most people got a good days worth of rides in before it rained.

All of us had a really fun time! Paul talked Akoy into going on the Colossus but couldn't talk Kaiden into going on Wicked. Just like I thought, as soon as we got home, Kaiden regretted not going on Wicked. Maybe next year.... Next year I am going to take Dramamine before we go. I don't do as well on all the crazy rides like I did when I was younger. After riding Wicked, I seriously wanted to puke but didn't think that the Lagoon workers would be too happy about that so I rode a few safe rides like the train until I felt better. (man it sucks to get old)

Kids say the funniest things.....

Paul and I teach the 6 and 7 year old kids in Primary. I haven't been in Primary for such a long time, I forgot how funny the kids can be. I've heard some pretty funny things since I have been back in there:

They were doing a spotlight and the counselor in the Presidency said "This person loves helping their sister clean her room."

The room was pretty quiet until one of the little boys, with a disgusted look on his face said, "THAT is NOT me."
All the adults in the room burst out laughing because you could tell that the little boy thought that was the dumbest thing ever,


One of the little boys whose class is right in front of us, loudly said to his teacher,"Teacher I don't want to sit by him. (again with disgusted look on his face) He told me that he didn't brush his teeth today so I don't want to sit by him." (As he is scooting to the edge of his seat)

As we were driving home from church one of our boys asked Kove where he got his sucker. He said, "The Prophet told me that I could have it." When one of them asked, "Are you sure it was the Prophet?" Kove answered, "Yeah, I was in the Prophet's office and he said I could have it."

After all of us teased him for a few minutes about the Prophet REALLY being at our church, he realized that he meant the bishop. It was pretty cute.

Slacking.....

I have sooo many posts to do, so stay tuned for our Lagoon day, Akoy's baptism, Paul, Brayden and I on our stake Trek and Fourth of July. You don't want to miss out on these........

The Giants are going to State!!!

Kaiden's baseball team ended their regular season with a win last night, which puts them with a 7-2 record AND they are going to the state championship!!! This is the first year that any of his teams have gone to state, so it is really exciting. (Kaiden is arguing that the first year he played, his D-back team went to state. I think it was the city championship, that all teams go to. Maybe we will never know who is right.... I guess it doesn't matter, they are going this year so that's all that matters. YAHOO!!)

Kaiden has improved SO much this year, I am so proud of him!! He is hitting WAY better, has made a lot of great plays in the infield and has even pitched quite a few games. Paul has been working with him on his pitching and hitting and he has a great coach and assistant coach. They are so patient with the boys and have put in a lot of time with them. (My neighbor and Kaiden's best friend's dad is the assistant and he has been great to help Kaiden) The state championship starts in July so the team will be practicing quite a bit until then, and then it's off to the championship. Stay tuned for an update of how they did......

Dance Festival

This past Wednesday, Kaiden's school had their annual Dance Festival. I think the school has had this tradition since my brothers went there and even when Paul did (Wow! that's a LONG time.) It is so much fun, I'm glad that they have kept the tradition. Kaiden has been able to participate in it since he was in kindergarten. I'm not so sure he thinks it is so fun,especially now that he is SO old. A few days before the festival, he was telling me about the different songs they were dancing to and said, "There are a lot of girl moves that we have to do, you'll see." He was pretty cute doing the dances but you could tell that he was embarrassed. He was smiling pretty much the whole time though but I think it was more that he was laughing. I got a little teary-eyed thinking that he is growing up so fast.

I can't believe that he is going to be in 6th grade this coming year. He is so smart and a really good kid (with the exception of the few arguments we have had over doing jobs and pulling weeds :) I don't know if this is a normal mom thing or just a weird Kristen thing, but there are times that I worry that I am not teaching him all that he needs to know. I worry that I need to do a better job at teaching him to be a hard worker or a better team player or more about the Gospel or about always being nice to others. He is starting to become more independent and I wonder if I am running out of time for teaching him things. It seemed to be a lot easier when he was younger because he did everything I said and didn't question it. (well, not too much) Now he has his own little personality and he is starting to question some of the things I tell him ( not anything bad but some things like thinking I am overprotective when I want him to take my phone when I let him go over to the park with friends or he complaining about ALL the jobs he has.) Really, it isn't that bad but I start thinking about all the things my parent taught me (some that I know I hated) and hope that I am teaching Kaiden all the things he needs to know to be a good young man. Ooops, I am rambling...

Anyway, Kaiden is going to be in the 5th/6th grade class split again. It's funny to think that he was worried at the beginning of the school year, about being in the harder 5th grade class. He did a great job though and loved it! At parent teacher conferences his teacher would tell me that he was a great student, well rounded in academics and sports and he loved having him in the class. Kaiden is even a little sad that school is over, he says that it is mostly because the fun 6th graders will be gone. He got all A's and one A-. I gave him a hard time about the A- but was just teasing. I am so proud of him. I'm soooo glad that we started early on with our homework and reading routine. He always gets his homework done before he does anything else, if he doesn't do it at school, and he LOVES to read. I just hope it continues this way.....

The Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend this last weekend...... My cousin graduated on Friday night so Kaiden and I went to that with my mom. I'm not sure if I am weird but graduations make me cry, like weddings, babies being born and other things like that do. I wasn't sobbing or anything, just a little teary watching the senior video and thinking that these young kids are leaving a part of their life and starting a new chapter, a BIG new chapter.

My mom and I were talking to Kaiden about how fun high school is and we wondered what kind of sports and activities he would do when he was that age and what kind of kid he would be. We told him that he needed to try to be nice to everyone, no matter if they were popular, quiet, smart, not so smart, athletic or not, that he should be friends with everyone. I know it was funny to be talking to him about stuff like that but I sometimes I just think of those kind of things.... When I started thinking of the time when Kaiden graduates, THAT made me cry..... (I'm weird I know)

Akoy had a game later that night so I dropped Kaiden off at his dad's and rushed over to the game. Luckily it started late so I didn't miss too much. Akoy even hit a double, so that was fun to watch.

On Saturday morning we got up too early for a Saturday, to go to our towns Fireman's Breakfast. Akoy and Kove thought it was pretty neat that we got to eat in the fire station and that there were tons of fireman serving them breakfast. Of course we had to take their pictures by the fire truck.

Paul's brother-in-law built a little motorcycle track behind their house so we headed up there after breakfast. Paul was riding as crazy and fast as the boys and got pretty banged up. (I don't think his body is as young as he thinks it is) It was a busy but fun weekend....

MEMORIAL HOLIDAY.......Family Reunions, Camping, Riding.....

We had a really fun Memorial Holiday!! We woke up WAY early on Saturday morning and took the motorcycle and Rhino up past Tibble Fork (Paul knows the name of all the trails and stuff but all I know is that we went up quite a bit from the dam.) Brayden rode his motorcycle most of the time unless it got too steep, muddy or we had to cross a river or something, then my dare-devil husband rode it until we got to a safe spot. There were a few times that I couldn't watch because he was slipping and sliding going up the steep rocky mountain.

As soon as we got home, Paul Kaiden and I got ready and went to a family reunion for my mom's side of the family. We ate lunch, which my mom brought for all of our family, (thanks mom) sat around and talked and the kids (and Paul) played catch and played in the park. Mckay came home with us and he and Kaiden played the rest of the day until we went up to my dad's to watch the playoff game.

After church on Sunday, we went out West with my dad and rode some more and camped over night. We got hit by a BIG rain storm but it only lasted about 20 min. Everyone kept getting on me because I had taken one of the MANY books I have been reading, that I haven't gotten around to finishing. I figured that since I didn't have a messy house to worry about, I could sit and read without feeling guilty. I didn't read the whole time we were there but I did decide that the next time we go out camping, we need to pull out some of the games we brought....

Baseball season is here.....

I've probably said it before, but I LOVE baseball season. I'm not sure if it is the warm weather or the excitement at the ballpark, but I love watching Kaiden and the rest of our boys play baseball. Last week, Kaiden was given the game ball by his coaches for pitching in his first REAL game of the season. I was SO nervous for him. I think it is so much pressure on the pitcher that I worry for Kaiden when he is the one pitching. He did really well for his first time.... He walked a few of the boys, struck out two of them and didn't hit any of them (he had hit a few during practice games so this was a big thing) Every year he gets so much better so it is even more fun to watch.

Happy Mother's Day!!

I know I am late on this but I can't skip a Mother's day post. I had a REALLY good Mother's Day, (even though Paul and I had to speak in sacrament.) I was a nervous wreck before church because I didn't think that my talk had come together like I wanted it to ( You would think that with a topic like "Mothers," I would have had an easy time but I really had soooo much I could talk about, that I didn't know what I wanted to say.) There was one point, right before sacrament started, that Paul had to grab my hand so I would stop shaking. (That just shows you how bad I hate talking in front of people but I'm so glad that my cute husband was there to hold my hand) My mom, dad, brother, his girlfriend, my grandma and Paul's mom and dad came to support us. I'm so glad they were there, even if at first I was hoping no one would show up (not even anyone in my ward) We made it through our talks though, and I think they turned out pretty good.......I don't know if mine and Paul's personal stories showed just how imperfect we really are, but we had a lot of people come up to us and tell us that they enjoyed our talks and that they didn't make them feel bad or guilty or like they were being preached to. I guess that's a good thing, right?

After church, Paul, Kaiden and I went to dinner, over to my mom's and dad's and then to Paul's mom's and dad's. It was a really nice day and what a better thing to celebrate than being a mom and having the best mom and mother-in-law. I LOVE being a mom!! I think that it is one of the greatest blessings I have been given. Sometimes I think that being a single mom was even a great blessing for me. Instead of having to focus on a husband and other kids, I was able to focus all my energies on being Kaiden's mom. I'm not saying that it was easy and I don't ever want to go back to being single but I think it was a blessing in disguise and a growing experience that I am thankful for. I am so grateful to be Kaiden's mom and a step mom to Brayden, Akoy and Kove. I am so grateful to have the mom that I have and to have her as my best friend. She has been through A LOT with me, I don't know what I would do without her. I have a great mother-in-law too. Paul's mom is so sweet and such a great example to me. Happy Mother's day to all the great Mother's I know!!

I love Paul because.......

I have decided that I need to be more appreciative of my husband, who he is and all that he does for me and our boys. I hate to admit it but sometimes I have days that I am grumpy with him. Most of the time he hasn't even done anything, it's more of me stressing out about how hard it is blending our family, having to deal with an ex or just plain "being in a bad mood." Paul has been such a blessing in mine and Kaiden's lives and I want to have something to remind me of all that he does for us. So, every once in a while I am going to blog about the reasons I love him. Then, if I am having "one of those days," or just want to look back on all the great things he has done, I have my blog to look back on. I'm sorry if I get mushy or even cheesy but I need to do this.......

So today I have to say that I am SO grateful that he always tells me that he loves me. Sometimes he sends me cute texts during the day or tells me at night or when he is kissing me goodbye in the morning but I don't think there have been very many days that have gone by that he hasn't told me. (I never realized how great it was to have someone love you so much until I now have that someone) AND he always makes sure he kisses me goodbye ,every morning before he goes to work.(even when he is mad at me :) Oh and one more! He loves the Gospel and tries to live it every day. He is ALWAYS willing to serve wherever he is asked to. He is the cute 6 and 7 year old kid's teacher in Primary and he doesn't complain about "just being in Primary" ever. He was even ok with giving a talk on Mother's Day (not that I am too mad that I have to, also) He has been through a lot of crazy things in his life and made a HUGE commitment to the church a few years back and is strengthening his testimony every day. I love that Kaiden has a great example in our home of someone who honors their priesthood and who is so willing to serve in the church.

I love Paul for so many reasons, sometimes I forget how much I love him....It's good to think about this so I don't focus on how crazy our life is...just how great it is.