Canada Day 2012!

This year I decided to run in the 5K race in Raymond with Megan, David, Chase and Trayden. This was on Saturday, June 30th. We had to be there by 7:15am. It was so early. All my kids wanted to be there. So we all got up early and went to Raymond! I was a little nervous, because I haven't been running at all. Again, I've just been doing Zumba twice a week. My own personal goal was to run the whole 5K. I started out with Megan. She told me to keep going, as she stopped to walk. I just did a slow jog the whole time. I made it in just over 35mins. I was pretty happy with that time. Chase came first, overall and Trayden 2nd. They made it in 21 mins and 23 mins. Crazy! They both got metals too. David did it in 26mins and Megan did it in 45mins. I was so exhausted after, but it felt so good to do it!

Chase and Trayden holding up heavy Uncle David!!! ha ha ha!

Here we all are after we came home. I beat everyone to the farm and had already taken a shower! Me, Chase, Trayden, David and Megan. Cassie is hiding behind us with her bike.

We hung around at the farm, because all the guys were helping dad finish his hay shed. They got the tin up and screwed down really fast with all the helpers. Dad was pretty happy to have it done. It was a hot day, so we decided to go to Wally's Beach. We all went and just had fun splashing and playing in the water. It helped cool us all down!

Trust DJ to find the only piece of shade around....even if it is almost under my chair! He sat there and dug in the sand for awhile!

Here's the whole clan at Wally's Beach!

Brianna making a mud pile!

I told Cadence to smile for me and this is what I got! Funny girl!

Abbi busy burying her legs in the sand!

Grandpa and DJ were playing in the water and talking funny to each other. I loved this picture I got of them!! So cute!

That night, I got a babysitter for the kids and we went out to dinner with mom and dad and Megan. It was a fun day. It was the perfect way to end the day. We had fun laughing and visiting together.

On Monday we took off around 10am, to go watch the parade. My kids were super excited. They got to sit with their cousins and things always are a little crazy when they all get together! DJ and Cadence were happy to find out that the scary skeleton guy wasn't there this year with the Stirling Haunted House. That one always freaked out those two! DJ loved the old John Deere Tractors that were in it. It was a fun parade to watch.

My cute kids ready for the parade. I bought them all Canada Day shirts and Brianna lost hers from the time I gave it to her to when she went to get dressed. We looked everywhere. Oh well!

Brianna, DJ, Cadence and Abbi with Keaton!

All the kids running out to get some candy!

DJ waving to the guy on the tractor.

Afterwards we made our way out to my parents farm. The Paxman side gathered there for lunch. My Uncle Scott and Aunt Angelica were there from Utah. It was fun to see them and their kids. Oh I should mention that I saw my Uncle Lloyd two weeks earlier with my cousin, Joe. They took a bike trip and were here for over a week. We spent a Sunday afternoon with them at my parents house. It was sure fun to see them and visit with them. It has been too long since we seen them last!

Later that afternoon we went into Raymond to the pool. My cousin, Ron, rented it for an hour. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast. Abbi and Cadence are crazy on the slides and diving boards. They just kept going and going. DJ had fun playing in the shallow end. Him and Mary stuck together and played.  Those two are so cute together. I had taken them for a little ride earlier that day, in hopes that they could have a little nap. Mary kept informing me that she wasn't tired. DJ was starting to fall asleep and Mary would look at him and yell, "Wake up DJ we are almost home." It was so cute. She yelled that a few times and then it was quiet. I looked back and they were both sound asleep!

We then went back to mom and dad's and had dinner. I had promised the girls that we would go back in for the street fair this year. By this time we are always so tired. But away we went! We let them go in each bouncy house and then we stood in line for the cotton candy. Grandpa Paxman was working the cotton candy machine and the kids thought it was funny that he was turning pink! We didn't stay long. The mosquito's were horrible. So we got the cotton candy and went home.

Brianna and Abbi loved to play and talk to Keira. So cute!

Having dinner at mom and dad`s. These guys just got back from boating...so I took a picture of them eating! ha ha!

Abbi coming off one of the bouncy things!

Brianna coming down the big slide!

Abbi, Cadence and Brianna standing in front of their Grandpa!

Watching Grandpa make their cotton candy.

DJ was a pink wired mess! He was bouncing off the windows on the way home!

Random Happenings!

I am way behind in posting, so I thought I'd try to catch up. We've done some fun things and I want to quickly write it down and post the pictures, so I can start writing about summer. So to start off with, way back in June we tried to do some fun things.

The first Sunday in June we woke up early and got ready for church and left home at about 10am. We drove up to Calgary for little Evan's baby blessing. He is such a cute little boy. We enjoyed spending the day with them. After sacrament meeting we went back to their house for dinner. It was fun to relax and visit and let the kids play. Uncle Cody had fun scaring all of them a few times. I love my kids reactions so funny to watch. I am glad we were able to be there.

Grandpa Pitcher with his great grandson, Evan.

Abbi loves to hold babies! Here she is holding Evan.

All the kids running up the stairs, away from Uncle Cody!

Mary and DJ ganging up on Uncle David!

The weather in June was very sporadic. So on the nice days, we tried to take advantage of it and do something. One nice afternoon we drove in to the new Nicholas Sheran park. My kids call it the train park. They love playing there. Usually we are the only ones there. We spent a couple of hours there playing. Eventually my cousin, Kristi, came with her two boys and we played a little bit longer. We had a good time.

DJ going down the big slide. I usually had to stand there so he could give me five on the way down! Silly boy!

Cadence and Brianna showing me how they can do the monkey bars by themselves!

I had this great idea of getting a cute picture of my kids together. Yeah, it didn't really work. This one was the best!

On a nice afternoon I decided to load our bikes on the bike rack and take them down to the fish pond. We would ride but you have to go on the highway a little ways and that makes me a little nervous with three 6 year olds. So we drove there. Then we went and tried out the new paved pathway. It was a lot of fun. We rode our bikes on the pathway till we got to the head gates. Then the kids wanted to walk across and walk down the trail. It was kind of hot out but we sure had fun exploring. DJ loves riding his tag-a-long bike behind me. It was the best purchase ever. Whenever we get on I say to him, "Are you ready DJ?", which he replys, "You ready mom?", and I say, "Yes I'm ready." , and he says, "Me ready." and away we go. The funny thing is, this happens every time we got on the bikes. He's so cute. It was a fun afternoon.

Taking a little water break on the pathway.

Cute DJ, who insists on wearing a hot and glasses, walking down the pathway.

Brianna and Abbi ran ahead and I thought that this was such a cool shot.

All four of my cute kids together!

It was getting a little hot, so we took a break on this bench.

Then the girls wanted to take turns taking pictures. Abbi took this picture of me with Cadence, DJ and Brianna.

Cadence and I!

DJ and Cadence having a little snack back at the fish pond. I had to go help Abbi!

Renee called me one morning and asked if we wanted to come over to her house for a spaghetti party. She told me to have the kids dress up in their swim suits. I bought some fudgsicles and brought them for dessert. The kids were super excited for this. Renee made a huge batch of spaghetti and we had all the kids sit on her front stairs and we told them to eat as messy as they wanted. It was funny to watch and they all had a good time. Then we got some water balloons out and I filled up a bunch. Then we let them have a water balloon fight. Renee always has such good ideas. It was a fun lunch and the kids had a blast.

Here are all the kids sitting on the stairs eating their spaghetti. We started out with giving them some crazy utensil to use. But that didn't last. So we gave them forks and told them to use their fingers too.

Keaton and DJ busy eating their spaghetti!

My three cute girls, eating their lunch!

Abbi really got into the messy part!

DJ enjoying his fudgsicle!

Everyone trying to fill up the water balloons.

All the kids running around trying to throw their balloons!

One morning DJ insisted on wearing two coats. I tried explaining to him that it was hot out. But that didn't matter. So I put his coats on and he got his boots on and he wanted to walk down and feed the horses. But first he had to get his stick horse and ride it to the horses. It was hilarious. Brianna went with him and it was so cute to see them walk on the side of the road. He wanted to show his horse the real horses. Too funny.

Cute DJ riding his horse with Brianna!

We took off one Friday down to the trailer. We were going to take a look at some land on Saturday. We decided to go a day earlier. It was very relaxing on Saturday morning. It was pretty cloudy out. My girls could see some big black clouds and kept telling me a storm was coming. I wasn't paying much attention to them. They went and got a board and I guess they drew some pictures and words on it. They told me later that it said, "WARNING STORM". They were pretty worried about the storm. We've had quite a few bad storms at home lately. There was a tornado warning on the radio on day and they all heard it. It kind of freaked them out. Anyways they did this and went to the end of the driveway and sat on their chairs holding up the sign. When a vehicle was coming one of them would jump up and scream "THERE'S A STORM COMING, TAKE COVER!" We had no clue this was going on. I heard screaming and went to see what was going on. They were running down the driveway and that's when they told me what they were doing! Sheesh, crazy girls. I guess one truck did stop and he rolled down his window and my girls said they threw the sign and ran away from the stranger. Oh my! Just a little bit embarrassing. So we told them they could no longer go down the driveway. They had to stay by the trailer. Sheesh, what are they going to think of next. I should of gotten a picture of them with their sign. But I didn't. Well, we went and looked at the land, and afterwards we decided to drive into Big Fork and have lunch. We stopped on the way to walk down to the river. We got some cute pictures. It was a fast trip but we had a good time.

Brianna, Cadence (with the crazy hair!) and Abbi, standing above this canal of water, I guess it fed into a hydro plant. It was kind of cool to see.

I had this bright idea of getting a family picture of us sitting on this log. As you can see Cadence and DJ were not impressed at all. He kept screaming, "ME GET DOWN!" Oh well, we tried!

DJ finally stopped screaming when his dad lifted him up onto his shoulders.

So that kind of gets us caught up a bit. Now I need to do the July 1st post. Summer has been a blast lately. We've been so busy, and having lots of fun! Have a great weekend!

Dance Recital and Last Day of Soccer!

So excited that things are starting to wind down. Last Friday, June 18th, was the girls' dance recital. They were very excited for it. I slick down their hair (especially Brianna's) with some gell, so I could wind their hair into a tight bun. Then Aunt Megan helped me do their make up and then we were ready to go. We were at my mom's house because Richard has been out helping my dad whenever he has time. They are building a shed onto the shop. It's turned into a BIG project!! So we went out and I made supper and got the girls' ready for their dance recital. Then we took off for home from there to get their tights and ballet shoes on. Oh I should mention that Richard and I took the kids to a movie earlier that afternoon. We took them to "The Lorax". It was hilarious and so funny to watch all my kids so into the movie. This is the first time ever that we had taken the kids and they all watched the movie the whole time. DJ found the movie funny and would start laughing so hard during the funny parts. I had more fun watching my kids then watching the movie. Too cute!!

So we got to the gym and I got the girls' dressed into their costume. They were super excited. I took a picture of them together before they went out. They were excited and very happy. Then they went out with their class and had one dance rehersal before the recital began. So I got to take pictures of the rehersal and then video during the recital. Perfect!!

My 3 cute little girls! Abbi looks so tall here!

During the dance rehersal. Abbi and Cadence are in the front, far left and Brianna is in the back far right. They did so good!

It began and the girls did wonderful. They are the oldest in their class and did so well at watching their teacher and doing their moves. They did great. I was so proud of them. Then they came and sat down with us and watched the rest of the recital. It was neat to watch all the kids dance.

Then they had everyone come back up to do a dance together and a big bow. Then dance class was finally over. Their teacher, Miss. Mellissa was so good with the girls. She gave all the kids in her class a flower. The girls loved it. I went to get them flowers before and the store was all out. I was a little bummed, but glad that they did get a flower from their teacher. I guess I should be more prepared. Oh well, I totally forgot about flowers till that night and it was too late. Live and learn. Luckily the girls didn't know any better and were so happy with their flowers. We told them they did so good and that made them very happy!

When everyone was dancing and all the little girls were watching. So funny!

The girls with their teacher, Miss Melissa! They loved her and she was a good teacher!

We skipped soccer practice on Saturday, because I took the kids out to the farm and was helping with the shed. Richard took off early that morning with the Scouts on a hike in Waterton. So the kids and I drove in the silver bullet (our old pick-up truck). We had to be back home in the afternoon so I could get the kids and I all ready for Grandma and Grandpa Bowlby's 60th Wedding Anniversary. We had to be at the temple by 5:15pm for family pictures. So we came home and DJ had curled up beside me, on the way home, and fell asleep. So he had a good nap, while I showered and got the girls all ready. Then DJ woke up a little grumpy and wanted nothing to do with his "church clothes". So we improvised, and were ready. We were patiently waiting for Richard to show up so we could go. Then I got a phone call saying he was going to be late and we had to run down the street to borrow our neighbours van, because her husband was driving our burb home. So, yeah, it was a little crazy. The kids thought it was so cool, to be in someone elses vehicle.

It was a fun family get together. We got family pictures taken, and then went to the civic center for a big dinner. Then there was a program afterwards. The kids had fun watching and they got to go up and sing a fun song too. After that they had a family dance. We stayed for it, since DJ had a nap. My kids were so excited to dance around with everyone. It was fun to watch, and fun to go out and dance with them too! We left just before 10pm. It was late. But everyone had a fun, fun, fun time!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Bowlby with all their Great Grandchildren! Mine are sitting down on the right.

My kids were a little bit hyper and here they are all torturing Uncle David.

Uncle David retaliated and tickled them all to the ground!

Grandma and Grandpa Bowlby cutting their cake. So cute!

All the kids watching all the grandsons sing a crazy song on stage. DJ was totally mesmerized. He was running around, crazy, everywhere, till this song came on. Then he just stood right in front of the stage and stared. So cute!

Here they are singing, Stand by Me, it was pretty funny.

Here's Richard, one of the grandson's, hiding out in the kitchen with his dad. I do have to give them credit though, they cleaned all the dishes and had the kitchen clean too!

The great grandchildren doing the chicken dance.

The kids dancing around the floor together.

Brianna and Seth got a chocolate bar each for being the best twisters. Brianna was determined to twist the whole song. I showed her how and she stayed in one spot and twisted up and and down the whole time. It paid off, she got a prize!!

DJ was in heaven dancing around the floor. He thought this was great!

Cute Abbi having fun dancing too!

I thought it was cute to see Cadence and Seth dancing together!

Richard and Abbi dancing together in a competition. When the music stopped, Richard had to go to one knee and Abbi would sit on it. The last one doing it was out. Cadence and I were one of the first ones out!!

They made it to one of the last 4 couples and then they were out. They did great.

Ella and Brianna were a cute couple doing the dance together!

Anyways, back to soccer. We went to their last soccer on Tuesday. DJ goes first and then the girls go after. So we went, and Richard came with us to watch them. We got there and DJ had fun running around. He gets tired easy, and will just flop on the ground when he's done! He's one of the youngest ones there. So maybe next year, it will be a bit better. But he finished and got his treat. He did a good job.

DJ listening to his coach and following directions. Here he is stopping his ball.

Lining up to play another game. You can see the big, black clouds rolling in.

DJ running and kicking his ball!

I called the girls over and by this time, the big black clouds were rolling in pretty fast. Then we heard the thunder. So the coaches called off soccer and talked to them and gave them their last treat. The girls were a little sad that they couldn't play, but happy with their treats. So we hurried and took a few pictures and then ran to our burb. Then the rain came down. It POURED!! We came home and got the kids ready to run to Cardston for Jasmine's surprise birthday party! It was really fun and Jasmine was super surprised!! So we had a fun day, even if we got rained out at soccer!

The kids gathering around to listen to their coach.

Cadence, Brianna, and Abbi with their dad. Richard looks really funny here!! Ha ha ha!

The girls with their freezies. Don't you love Brianna's soccer outfit!! A little dress with tights on. Too funny!