Our little "big" football player

this is our football player. he's pretty excited for football camp in july. yes, they play full pads. it's actually really cute to see them all out there on the fields. all these little guys look like little big football players. after football camp, they'll have a draft and we'll see which team kurtis will be on. we're all hoping kurtis will love and flurish in the sport!! doesn't he look adorable in these pads??!! this is just his practice jersey and pants. his uniform will be here this fall in time for the games. he will get to ride on a float in the homecoming parade. he's excited about that. he'll also get to wear his jersey to school on game days. chuck and i decided to go ahead and get him in the program, because here, they are really serious about football. if he doesn't play now, then later, he'll be inexperienced and most likely will not be able to get on a team. you gotta start'em out early. so we'll be posting pics of camp and games as they come!

another party!

all 3 boys' birthdays are so close together. the end of may almost through all of june, we are partying non-stop. we've had alot of fun. they all had great birthdays and got great presents that they are still playing with. these are pics from kurtis' party. he got the OU clothes and hat he wanted so badly. he looks so cute in them. after the party we all went swimming and wore ourselves out! i can't believe that kurtis is 7. it's all gone by so quickly. about a week later, chuck and i celebrated our 9th anniversary. yes, 9th. lauren and larry so very nicely babysat all the boys and chuck and i went out for a nice dinner. we went to a place called The Gaucho. it's a Brazilian restaurant. they have a buffet of sides and salads, and then they bring you the meats out on skewers and cut it for you. it was all you can eat...they just keep bringing all kinds of steaks, chicken and pork out. it was delicious. we loved the food and quiet dinner all to ourselves.
now it's almost july. kurtis is done with summer school this week. he's looking forward to that i know. chuck turns the last of his research in this week for his summer class as well. hopefully, we will get to see more often now before the school year starts up again. it's been a long summer already. we've had such busy schedules. i hope things can slow down a bit now.

pics of birthdays and more!

here is jared eating his birthday cake. it was june 13th. it was a fun party. all the family came and celebrated with us.

jared and blythe playing with jared's new birthday toys.
yummy!
birthday boy!
jared and his presents
we had a party at my aunt's house the other night. they were visiting from cali. there was wonderful food and great company. it was so nice to see everyone. that is my cousin, tanida in the greeen shirt and my other cousin natalee in the very back.
here is carly and evan
here's evan playing guitar hero...he's actually really good
what a sweet first birthday.
kurtis...he has a sweet smile.
tanida and i
carly and i playing guitar hero..i'm not good at all!

chuck and i playing boxing on the wii. my arms are still sore. it was a good workout man!
kurtis and blake

jared
oops...i put this one in twice...it's so cute though!
my little blake
tanida, her baby natira, and jared and me. our babies are just 6 weeks apart.

we swim everyday that we can. it's been so fun. the kids and i are loving it. here are some pics of the pool time. and for those of you that know kurtis, you know that seeing him this deep of water...to his chest is a major improvement. he's been much more daring in the water. baby steps....

jared, i think all the boys look so cute in there swim clothes.
see..what an improvement from last year!
all 3 boys
kurtis had blake do this...he told him to raise his arms and yell, "kurtis!!" right before he jumped in the water. blake timed it just right.

kurtis and i at the bowling alley

birthday boy!

blythe is sharing her snacks with jared...how sweet.
blake is so proud of all his tickets!

kurtis' birthday

today is kurtis' birthday. it was alot of fun. we started it off by going to lunch at Wings To Go. kurtis and i love wings. it wasn't as good as we thought it was going to be, but we got full. then, lauren suggested bowling. such a great thing. the bowling alley just so happened to be having their grand opening today. everyone bowled FREE!!!! so awesome. they also got to play in the arcade and win a ton a tickets. they found this one machine that was just spewing tickets. luck was with us today. well, after that, we were all tired. so we went home and geared up for the birthday dinner. i called around and found that TGI Fridays has the best birthday deal. they let the kids spin a wheel and win a prize and they get a dessert. i also recommend the "brownie obsession" for all the adults. it's too good for kids. it was a really fun day all in all. well, almost. while we were getting into the car, blake was on his side of the van. i told him to go ahead and get in. i was on the other side buckling jared in and kurtis was already in and buckled. i looked out the window and i saw the top of his head, and there was a lady there kinda blocking the way of the van door opening. he got the door opened only about 3 inches and i heard him tell that lady, "get your butt out of my face." i of course died. then i told him in the most mad stern voice possible, "get in the car!" well, sadly, he still couldn't get the door open enough. so, he impatiently looked at the lady again and said, "get your butt out of my face!" this time there was no doubt that she heard him. poor lady had this embarrassed, shocked and forced uncomfortable smile on her face. she then moved and he proceeded to get into the van. i immediately had him apologize and then i apologized. it was horrible!! you know, i had this relex feeling...that i'm sure all you parents have felt...to beat your kid!!!! but i, and lucky for blake, resisted. i did lay into him pretty well. needless to say, he will be having no fun tomorrow. he had to come right home and wash his mouth out with soap and go to bed. i've just had it!! i now know that whatever it was that i was doing to teach him...wasn't working. we are knocking it up a notch on discipline and punishments. but other than that incident, it was a really great day....and kurtis got his new bike! he was really happy about that. his party is this weekend, he's looking forward to that.

the devil

so, yesterday we went to the mall with lauren, my sister and my friend melani. kurtis was in a horrible grumpy mood. it all started after school, he asked if we were going to go swimming today. i told him no because jared still has a cough, but that we were going to the mall. my plan was to shop, and then let them play at the play yard thing in the mall, and maybe get them a little treat. well, lets just say, things didn't go as planned. things just weren't going kurtis' way at all. he and blake couldn't stop picking at each other...they seem to fight and argue more and more. that alone is driving me nuts!! now, on a side note....two weeks ago, we went to my parent's stake conference with them. a woman that we've known for years, was one of the speakers. she started out talking about one summer years ago that her kids were just driving her crazy with their fighting. i immediately listened closer. she proceeded to tell this story. her kids were fighting and so she went to them and asked them..."who are you serving when you fight?" they told her, "the devil". and so she talked to them about who they wanted to serve...Heavenly Father...and so forth. so that week, i tested this out on my kids. lo and behold, we had the exact same outcome. same answers and all. ok, so back to the mall story. while we were eating a snack, kurtis and blake were playing on these old arcade games. something happened and kurtis hit blake. blake told on him. i had just had it! i excused myself with kurtis. well, while we were gone, blake stayed with lauren. when i came back, this is the conversation she told me they had together.

Blake: "Isn't Kurtis mean?"
Lala: "No, he's just having a hard day."
Blake: "Kurtis is mean to me. He hit me. Do you know who Kurtis is serving?"
Lala: "Huh?"
Blake: "DO YOU KNOW WHO KURTIS IS SERVING?" [said more clearly with bulging eyes looking up at me this time]
Lala: "No, who?"
Blake: "Kurtis is serving the Devil."
Lala: "What?"
Blake: "Kurtis is serving the Devil because he hit me. When you do bad things, you're serving the Devil. When you do good things, you're serving Jesus. So, Kurtis is serving the Devil today."
And I just smiled, trying to keep the laugh in. This was a serious conversation for him. No laughs or smiles on his party. Very matter-of-fact. He's so funny!!!!

well, at least it's sinking in with one of them!!! that's all i have to say about that!!

now, while we were in macy's, lauren and i were looking in the little girls section. kurtis is always on the look out for a place to sit down. so he finds a spot on the manican platform. he was coming out of his grumpiness and just chillin'. so after i check out, i walk over to him and i see him kneeling on the floor and he looked at me coming and dropped the end of one the manican's dresses. "no way" i think to myself. no way he was looking up their dresses. so i casually asked, "what are you doing?" with a guilty look, he just shrugged his shoulders. so i just came out and asked, "were you looking up the dresses?" and he shrugged his shoulders and with the most serious look on his face said, "yeah, i just wondered if they put underwear on them."
oh geez....it's beginning!!!! not yet!!!!
now, i know this was in all innocence, but still...come on.