Connor's Big Birthday Bash

Here are some pictures from one of the fun parties Connor got to have. We went to Wes' parents' house and went swimming and had a BBQ. It was a ton of fun. I forgot to take pictures of the swimming part, but here are some from the night! Halley is loving getting reacquainted with all the people who love and care for her so much!

Gotta love those cool grown-up cousins! I am so glad they are such good examples for my boys!


Here they are waiting for singing and blowing out candles. We got to call Wes on the phone, and he sang with us. You can see someone is holding the phone out by Connor. I was glad he got to be a part of some of it. They love licking off all the decorations!
The big 4! I cannot believe he is that old. We took him in for his 4 year old check up, and he is in the 86% for height and the 87% for weight! What a big boy!

Where are my presents!?!?

Nothing is better than grandmas!

Connor was obviously very excited about all his presents. I love his crinkly eyes smile. He is such a sweetheart. A few days after Wes left he told me he had a stomach ache. I said, "You've been having lots of tummy aches lately. Are you worried about something?" He told me, "Yah, I'm worried about Daddy getting stuck in traffic when he comes home for Christmas." How sweet and tender is that?? I love that boy!

More from Connor's Birthday

My sister decided she thought it'd be fun to run through the sprinklers with the boys when we got home from Arctic Circle. Ha ha ha . . . they had a blast, and got all soaking wet! That is one thing we definitely couldn't have done in CA! It was never warm enough, especially at 7:00 at night!Here is Halley spending some quality time with Grandma. My mom was tickling her, and Halley was loving it! Here is she is feeding my mom her necklace. She really has a thing about that. It's how I entertain her at church! I took about ten pictures, but none of them really turned out.


It seems like every picture I take of Connor he is in some crazy pose! He is such a funny kid. We decorated a cake and opened more presents. He got these super cool summer jammies from my parents.

Connor's Day

Connor turned four on August 27, two days after Bradley started school. It was a day filled with lots of excitement!
We always do a big birthday breakfast, and I intended to get up early, but it didn't work out. I stayed up late getting everything ready, and the kids were up a lot during the night.
Anyway, so Connor had to wait awhile upstairs while I got his birthday breakfast ready. This is what ended up happening. He was sick of waiting. I am such a mean mom!He did get what he wanted for breakfast though. Wes has got the boys hooked on coffee cake. It's one of his favorite breakfasts, and that's what Connor requested. Here he is blowing out the candles. He started before I could get around to take a picture from the front.
All he asked for was a big bluish-greenish ball. (I think that's because Bradley got one for his birthday this year, and Connor always wants to be like his big brother!)He also got a cool Toy Story shirt which is too big, but he still likes it.And, Aunt Cristi came over with Zack for lunch and brought some fun presents!
Maybe we overdo birthdays at our house . . . we blow out candles at pretty much every meal, and we let the birthday person pick what they want to eat for each meal. Connor requested none other than the most deliciously appetizing macaroni and cheese for his birthday lunch! Here he is blowing out the candles in his banana. Aren't I creative?? :)


For dinner Connor wanted to go to Arctic Circle. It's one of our favorite restaurants - not just for the food, but they have great customer service! My parents and sister met us there, and it was a lot of fun!
Here is Halley showing off her gorgeous smile!
The boys really enjoyed the play place. Here is Connor running to give Bradley a hug because he bonked his head.
And here are the two of them giving "brother hugs."



And here they are falling down all over each other!
I really appreciate my family coming out that night. I wasn't sure I would have been able to handle the three kids at Arctic Circle by myself.
We actually went home and did birthday cake and presents, but my energy is gone for the night so I'll do a separate post about that! Happy Birthday Connor!!!

The First Day of Kindergarten

The first few pictures are at home before we headed off!

I think this will be our "First Day of School" spot for taking pictures. Doesn't he look so sweet?
And, of course, Connor had to get it on the action! "I'm cool too, Mom!"
Here is Bradley enjoying his very favorite pastime. This guy LOVES to read. He reads constantly. I got him a new book for his first day of school, and we couldn't leave until he had finished it!
I cannot believe Bradley is in kindergarten now. That is so weird to me. He started school a few weeks ago, and we are pretty much in the routine now, but it is still so weird. He has had a little bit of a hard time adjusting to all the changes in our lives - moving, school, new friends, and especially having Daddy gone. I think that has really impacted him at school. He has had a few rough days, but overall I think he is doing well. His teacher talked about moving him up to 1st grade because he is such a good reader, but he's not quite ready for that, and neither am I! :)
This picture is just outside Bradley's school.
And these are some of the boys enjoying the kindergarten playground. Halley wasn't walking at this point so she was hanging out with me. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of her that day. That is so unusual! :)

ENTERING THE SCHOOL!!!

Do you think he looks a little nervous? There were a few kids crying that first day, and I think it kind of threw Bradley off. At least he had his brother there to hold his hand and give hugs!

A little side note - today (it's actually Sep. 24, but remember I'm doing the posts by the date of the pictures) - Bradley was sent to the Principal's office! Yikes, huh? No, it was because he did something good! Hooray! He wrote a little story for his teacher, and she had him read it to the principal. Bradley keeps talking about how the principal said, "Holy smokes!" after he read her the story. I am so proud of him! She even gave him a spiderman sticker. I am so excited. I think he is feeling better about things and adjusting to all the change. I love my Bradley!

Family Pictures on a Sad Day!

We took these pictures the day Wes left for Arizona. We got some really good ones, but Bradley was a little upset. I couldn't pick which ones to post, so I'm putting them all on. You can see how everyone was feeling that day. Wes left just a few minutes after this.
Halley got some love from Daddy!
And Bradley got more and more upset the more pictures we tried to take. I think he knew, more so than Connor and Halley, exactly what was going on that morning.
No, I was not happy about him leaving, but I had to pretend, right?

Say Cheese!

Here are some fun pictures we took about a week after moving in.
You gotta love that little Halley's attitude! She is so funny.

On the Road

I only took a few pictures on the drive out to UT. This one is at the hotel in Nevada where we stayed. I went into the room the boys were sleeping in and found them snuggling. Isn't that sweet? They were so exhausted. It had been a rough past few days, with the graduation and packing and driving and all that stuff.
The next morning we went swimming for a bit, but I only got a couple semi-cute pictures of Halley. It was kind of a cold morning, and we were anxious to head out so we weren't there very long.She is a definitely a cutie though!