The Windy City

Jon went to Chicago for a Reading Convention and Maddie and I tagged along. We had a great time! The brothers all stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and had to go to school, poor brothers.  The first thing Jon wanted to do was eat Chicago pizza. He was very excited for Maddie to try it for the first time. She didn't really like it because the tomatoes tasted too "real" so she picked off the tomatoes and then liked it okay. When we got a cookie sundae for dessert, then we saw the enthusiasm we wanted to see for the pizza.

 We walked through a park right by our Motel and saw "The Bean." It was really beautiful. I liked the view from the other side better because it reflected all the sky scrapers.

 It rained almost the whole time we were there which is pretty normal for the month of April. It was still pretty warm and not too bad walking in the rain everywhere. Maddie loves the city because we got to walk so much.

Here's Maddie all by herself in the Motel pool. She didn't have very fun because there was nobody to swim with. She swam about 20 minutes then decided to get out.

Our favorite place was the Museum of art. It was so amazing. Maddie couldn't believe how many famous pieces of art there were in this one museum. She asked right when we got into the Museum, "Wait, are these originals??" Yes!

                 A Sunday Afternoon- Saurat. This is the picture that's made with small dots.

                                                            Bedroom in Arles- Van Gogh.

                                                             Water Lily Pond- Monet

We took a boat down the Chicago River while the tour guide told us lots of information about what inspired the architects that built these buildings by the river. It was really interesting and fun to be on a boat! View of the former Sear's Tower. It has been renamed but everyone still calls it the "former Sears Tower."

Maddie asked Jon where his conference was going to be held next year. I said, "Why do you want to know?" and she just smiled. She had a great time!

May 1st, I'm Just Gonna Burst!

I'll have to consult my blog, but I think Seth has gone to Boondocks the last three years for his birthday. This year he said he just wanted family and no friends, so that was nice for me to not have to worry about passing out invitations and taking kids home, etc.  As you can see, Seth got some great treasures with his tickets.

 Opening presents. We had Joseph and Bethany and their 4 kids- Elisabeth, Christopher, Isaac, and Gabriel, Grandma, Grandpa Dewey, Gram Pennington, Lincoln, Donovan, Paige, and Elliott. It actually wasn't very busy for a Friday at 5:00.

                                          Blowing out candles and getting some bonus tickets.

 Joseph's kids were a little scared of Laser Tag so they went to do Bumper Boats instead. We automatically do Laser tag but maybe Bumper boats would be more fun. We'll have to go back in the summer and try them.

 Finishing Laser Tag-YEAH! Donovan and Lincoln playing some ski ball while Grandma, Paige, and Elliott support.

On Seth's actual birthday, Jon and I were in Chicago so my mom checked Seth out and took him to Cafe Rio and Toys R Us which is more than what I would've done. He had a great birthday.

Note: The title of this blog is from a song Seth wrote about his birthday two years ago, it's pretty good. It even has a rap in the middle of it. Now when I think of Seth's birthday, this song goes through my head.

Easter

 Yay, Easter was nice weather this year. We went to my parents house and had a big meal outside. That way if we spill, it's no problem. We started by dying eggs.

 Gram, Seth, and Maddie

 Max and Mary

 Maren's hair looks pretty cool in this action shot. 

 Maren, and Collin Dewey and Maddie and Max

 Joshua has a twin (James), but Seth and Joshua look like twins here. They were quite happy drinking their Yoohoos and talking about who knows what.

Easter Sunday clothes. We actually didn't buy any clothes this year except Maddie bought her own skirt with her birthday money. Seth for some reason wanted to wear an open vest to look like Indianna Jones, Max looks handsome in his suit and Tanner is wearing is Great Grandpa's suit jacket.

Houston, We Have a Problem

While in Houston for Max's karate, we only had one afternoon of free time. There's a lot to do in Houston but I really wanted to go to the NASA center.

                                                Seth sitting by the door of the space ship replica.

 This is the view from the front seat of the Shuttle. I think the windows are too tiny but maybe they don't want a lot of windows in space.

                                                    Our friend David trying on a helmet.

 Then we got on a shuttle and toured the campus. They have tons of employees.  We got to see a huge robotic spider they're getting ready to send to Mars.  We also stopped at "Rocket Park." Everything is so huge. They had to eject each part of the rocket at different times and ended up with just the small top in order to get into space.

                              This shows just how huge the thrusters are. There are 5 on this rocket.

Black Belt, YAY!

Max has been getting ready to go to TX, the last 6 months (actually the last 5 years) to get his Black Belt. Jon, Max, Seth, and I all flew down on Thursday and came home on Sunday. We left Tanner and Maddie home to fend for themselves which they liked, plus Grandma lives 4 houses away. On Friday morning we went to the Dojo to practice for an hour. It was very huge and impressive. Then we went to the Space Center (which I'll blog about next). On Saturday we had the big test. It started at 10 and ended at 3, with no lunch break! It was a tough test but I guess it has to be. They were exhausted by the end. It was a neat experience to see how far Max has come. He said he learned "that I'm stronger than  my mind tells me I am."



                                                                               
           Age 6. March 2007~                                                                Age 11. March 2012

                                           

                                 At the end of the ceremony, everyone putting their Black Belts on.

There were 11 Black Belts from the Utah Dojo. 

Maddie's Birthday

Maddie had the idea that she wanted to rent Sumo suites for her party. She got the idea from her friend's older sister that had done it and said it was really fun. It was pretty funny to watch. When they went down they would fall in slow motion but couldn't really catch themselves.

                                                                          Sumo Maddie

Brittany getting Velcroed in, then they would have to hoist her up with at least two people.

                                   Sami getting Keli pumped up to fight, these girls are really funny!

Maddie's Brothers: Tanner was aerating lawns for a fund raiser for scout camp but had time at the end to try it out.

Seth had his own birthday party to go to. The invitation came with a duct tape bow tie for him to wear to the party. Doesn't sound too fun for a party but his whole class was invited and he said it was super fun!

Max with a caramel apple in one hand and a Creme Soda in the other is reaping the rewards of the party.

One of Maddie's presents were these platform house shoes (Oobies). Max is just now passing Maddie up in height so they had to compare heights with these shoes on.

                             Maddie had peach and apple cobbler for her "cake." Happy 14th!

                                 Maddie, Keli, Sami, Jenni, Sarah, Hailey, Marissa, Madie, Brittany

And he's off...

Tanner finished Driver's Ed. on Tuesday so we went to the DMV on Thursday and got his license. He kept telling me he needed a haircut and I finally thought, actually he can get in the car and drive the 3 blocks and go and get his own haircut...without me. Crazy! So, off he went and he came back safely with a nice haircut. It's exciting and a little scary.

Rugby

Tanner's been wanting to play Rugby since this time last year when the team got their matching jackets at school. He started practice a couple of weeks ago. The coaches are way laid back. That doesn't seem like a bad thing but it can be. They informed us that we would start practice the next day so we had to hurry and go buy shoes and a mouth guard that night. Then it snowed so it got cancelled. Then they added a day of practice from Tues. and Thurs. to Tues., Wednesday, and Thursday. Then they decided instead of getting out at 6 they would get out at 6:30 but they decided that at 6 so I was already waiting without a book in the car, drat! 

Then we have the first game last Saturday. We get there in time to see the last half of the 7th and 8th grade boys and then the Girls team gets on the field. It wouldn't be so bad but it's really cold and windy and we brought the whole family to support Tanner. Finally the 9th and 10th grade boys play but Tanner doesn't get to play which he warned us could happen since he's new. So after 2 1/2 hours of freezing and not getting to see Tanner play we decide to go home. Tanner said at the very end of all the games they're going to let the new players do a scrimmage but he'll find a ride home. Yay. Two hours later Tanner calls to say he can't find a ride home and he's hurt his shoulder and needs to go get x-rays. So Jon drove 40 minutes to go get him and then spent a couple of hours at the Instacare and pharmacy. He didn't break anything but hurt his rotary cuff muscle. Tanner is really frustrated. He had a lot of fun the first 20 minutes he was in the game and is sad he's out for at least 2 weeks. I asked him if he still likes Rugby and sadly he said he does. On a positive note, it is nice to hear Tanner get excited about something and he's getting a lot of exercise.