Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Kid updates.....

Braxton is now in Middle School.  I think the first week was a little overwhelming for him (although he'd never admit it), but he got the hang of it.  The school does a program where they have a rotating schedule, one week the periods are all in order, the next week it will go 3rd,5th,7,2nd,1st etc..  and then rotate the next week.  I would think this would be totally confusing to the kids, but they pick it up pretty quick.  Their philosophy is that some kids do better at certain subjects at certain times of the day so they want everyone to be able to rotate.  I guess is makes sense.  He does really well academically. He'll announce that he took a test and knows that he did poorly and come to find out he got A.  Anyway, along with school, which is keeping him very busy, he is, much to my dismay, in football this year.  And he is loving it!  The team he is on is a "feeder" team for the middle school and highschool.  This gives the coaches a chance to get to know the kids and help them out before they try out for the school teams.  Braxton is offensive lineman, although he really wants to do defensive lineman, so the coach has been working with him to see if he's good enough to make the switch.  They had their first win in two years last saturday, and you'd have thought they'd won the superbowl with how excited they were.  He doesn't have time for much else these days, other than scouts once a week.  I can't believe he's almost 12!!  He's a good, kind hearted kid and a great babysitter. Mike and I are constantly pulled aside at church and told what a good kid he is.  We are truelly blessed to have such a good boy.

Hailey is our little princess/diva/drama queen rolled into one.  She loves to be creative, which is a lot like me as a kid.  Always coloring, drawing, wanting to do projects.  She likes to write plays (who does that sound like, kris and jarom).  She loves to dance and looks forward to her lessons everyweek.  She's fantastic at watching Logan when I'm trying to get things done around the house.  She loves school and is an excellent reader.  She's a wonderful sister, doesn't like it if Braxton get's in trouble, even if she's the one that put him there.  She loves to play with Logan.  Since her best friend moved away there isn't much for her to do around here, because there is no one her age in our neighborhood, so she does what she can to keep herself busy.  She also is very tender hearted.  She can get her feelings hurt pretty easily.  She is very shy and wont even so much as smile at someone she doesn't know.  (I guess that's good)  She and Braxton love to joke with eachother and she loves to play pretend with her dad.  She can also be a bossy little thing, as Grandpa Ellsworth has found out.  :)  She can be very helpful and very loving.  We are very blessed to have her be a part of our family.
 Logan is our little man.  He's just started walking, but finds that he can get to his destination much faster by crawling.  He is such a smiley little thing and has the cheesiest grin.  In the morning or after a nap as soon as he see's you come in his room he's so excited!  He loves to snuggle and sometimes will give you a kiss, if he's in the mood.  He's started to wave bye bye.  He loves to watch the dogs play and will laugh when they wrestle.  He loves his big brother and sister!  And loves his dad!  He is a very curious little thing and will study something in his hand before deciding what to do with it....either eat it, throw it or just put it down.  He's a very picky eater and would rather be fed then feed himself.  He says dada when he's  happy and mama when he's upset.  He is so fun just to watch.  We are very blessed to have him be a part of our family.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Lake Marion

Our last trip of the summer was to Lake Marion, South Carolina.  This was our Ellsworth/Brallier reunion.  The lake was beautiful, but because of the drought it was really low.  You could see tops of trees pokin up through the water and you couldn't see that until you were close.  So it was a little nerve racking to drive the boat around.  But Mike learned if you stayed in the channel you were ok.  The weather was HOT and MUGGY!  So we were eith on the lake, in the pool or hanging out in the condo.  We'd wake up early, wakeboard, come home eat, swim, nap and then go back out on the boat in the evening and then play salad until bedtime.  We had a great time.  Very relaxing.
 Braxton

 
 Playing in the water



 Good Morning Dad!
 Hailey loves to sleep.  If she doesn't get enough in the night, she'll fit it in somehow in the day.
 Hailey learned to wakeboard.
 Charleston is only an hour away, so Jarom, Liina and Hanele were able to come out and stay with us for a couple of days.
 Jarom, Hanele and Braxton in the background.  The current was so strong that it was easy to get pulled away from the boat.
Getting ready to head out for some morning wakeboarding.

Utah 2011

Our first trip this summer was to Utah for the Hanson Family Reunion. When we landed in Salt Lake and walked outside to get our car, the weather was beautiful!  Then a cold front came in and it was FREEZING!!!  I only packed for summer weather, so we were huddled in blankets.  But, in true Utah form, it warmed back up and it was that dry, hot weather I look forward to.  We went up to Park city again for our reunion, and as usual, the kids had a blast. It seems like yesterday that I was running around with my cousins at reunions.  Oh to be young again.  We were also able to spend time with Grandma Cheryl and Aunt Traci, and the Colemans.  We also were able to do a picnic with some of my highschool friends.  It was a fun filled trip, and I can't wait to do it again next year.
 The boys rented bikes and did some biking in the mountains.
 Most of the grandchildren
 Logan and Mike relaxing in the hot tub
 Swimming in the pool at the Silver King Lodge
 Kim and Kerry
 Happy Logan
 We always have to go to the pool by Stacy's at least once or twice while we are out there.  The boys getting dumped on by "the bucket"
 Aunt Stacy putting Logan to sleep, as you can see, she's good at it.



Saturday, July 2, 2011

5th Grad Graduation

This was Braxton's last year in Elementary school.  Since he is moving to Middle School next year, the fifth grade holds a "graduation" ceremony to send the kids off.  There were 5 classes that were graduating, so it ran a little long, but it was neat and a little sad to see Braxton take this step in his life.

 Walking to recieve his medal of achievement.

Logan's not happy because Mike accidentally bumped his head on the wall as we were having the picture taken.  Poor thing....
The 4 muskateers...Jared, Braxton, Brody and Zach.  They have no idea how much different life is going to be next year...

Friday, July 1, 2011

Baseball and Ballet

Another season of baseball come and gone....Braxton played third base again and outfield when there was a strong batter up to bat.  They had a pretty good season 5 wins 4 loses, I think.  Our team made it to the tournament, but lost our first game, which went into overtime three times.  It was a really close game, but the other team took the win.  Braxton had a great time playing and did pretty good this year.  He had some really good plays, the best one of the season was when the batter hit the ball, Braxton was on third, and the ball was going to be a foul ball, but Braxton ran up, slammed against the fence and caught the ball.  Everyone was on their feet cheering, it was awesome!
 Up to bat
 Third base

Hailey did another year of Ballet and Tap.  Her recital was in May and she started talking about "dancing on the stage" in about September.  She was very excited when recital time actually arrived.  I don't even know what the show was about, but Hailey did a great job. It seemed like she got it this year. 
 She was a music box dancer this year.
 Grandpa Ellsworth drove down to see her performance and spend the weekend with us.


Orlando with the Sampsons

Well, we did it....we all survived (all 12 of us) living together for almost 3 years under one roof.  The Sampsons were getting ready to move down to Florida, so we thought it would be fun to take a trip together before they left.  While we were down there we went to the Magic Kingdom for a day and hung out at the resort pools.  The kids had a blast!  It was a great way to end this journey.

 The Clan
 Mike and I waiting for the kids at the autobaun
 Mickey's Philarmagic
 Small World

 Pirate's of the Carribean
 Watching the parade
 Nicole's super excited for the magic carpet ride...

 Nicole and I left just before the firework show to take the boys home.

 Swimmin at the pool
 Mike and Logan in the lazy river
Downtown Disney

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Easter

We got in our Easter best and took pictures before church.  Since this was our last year with the Sampson's we decided to do some combined family photos.  After church we had the Crosby's and the Maddox's over for dinner and our annual honey baked ham....YUM!!

The crew