Pattens on Lambourne

2nd Annual Polar Plunge

2010-06-27T22:05:00.003-06:00

The last two years we have had a "polar plunge" before we turn the heater on for the summer. "Polar" is a bit exaggerated since it happens in the middle of June and the water is about 70 degrees but it has become a fun tradition that I hope we carry on for years to come.

Hear we all are ready to plunge into the cold water.

Andy showing off for the ladies!

And Drew too!

Andy and all the kids hung out in the hottub all night.

Now for a great summer of warm swimming!

Lagoon Day

2010-06-26T21:50:00.001-06:00

Every summer we go to Lagoon on Stake Lagoon day.

The kids always have so much fun!

Josie loved the ladybug. She went on this ride a half dozen times!

This was the first year that Charlie really got to ride everything.
He LOVED it!!!

Frances was a great sport just hanging out in the stroller.

The kids thought they were really driving this car.

Josie and Eliza were funning from ride to ride.

They couldn't get enough of them all!

Charlie kept going on this ride, he would jump

back in line as soon as he was done.

We both loved Puff!

And the little tidal wave.

And then Charlie went on the ladybug drop and absolutely LOVED it!!!

He kept getting back in line with this ride too!

Charlie and Olivia were good ride partners.

Andy took the kids on a bunch of rides.

Eliza took Charlie on the egg drop. They were so brave together!

Then she had to carry him out because he wanted to keep going!

What a great big cousin!!!

Olivia was screaming this whole ride and totally loving it!

She never put her arms down.

All the kids on their last ride of the night. We had such a great time!

Wasatch Back 2010

2010-06-25T21:32:00.009-06:00

So somehow Charles and I were talked into running the Wasatch Back. :) We were on a team with the best runner's in the world and needless to say I was definetly the weakest link. But it was such a blast. Crazy to say that running three times in about 27 hours in a blast, but somehow all the Hammers/Halls/Pattens made it so much fun! Charles and I had no idea what to expect but the Hammer team had everything so worked out, everything ran like a well oiled machine!

Here I am getting ready to run my first leg.

... and I was off.

... and reaching the exchange for the next runner.
Holly, as Josie would put it.... has cheetah legs!! So fast!

The three girls from van 2! Whit, Chris and Holly

Charles amping up for his first leg...

and he is off. He just had to run UP to Snowbasin. What a crazy run!

Whit and Logan (the best and funniest driver Ragnar has ever seen) help to cheer on Charles.

Charles did AWESOME!!! Like his Lakers jersey? He had gone to the finals game the night before when the Lakers beat the Celtics, and we hate the Lakers and so do most Utahns so he thought it would be funny to run it the jersey. He got a lot of boo's as he ran! He killed that leg!!!

A bunch of team Hammer at the exchange at Snowbasin.

Craiger retreiving our hammer after it went flying off the top of the car.

Dinner break after our first set of runs. Pizza never tasted so good!!!

Craig and I getting ready to jump in the freezing river to ice our weary muscles.

The night run. It was so exhilarating!!! My favorite and hardest run!

Andy meet up with us so he could run with Charles on his night run.

they had to run from Rockport to Oakley.

It was about 3am and freezing when they finished. Way to go!!!

Van 1 getting ready to run again. Isn't the hammer great!!!

Finishing my 3rd and final leg. My legs did not want to move anymore!

Whit and Craig were the runners that had to go up Guardsmans Pass.

They were amazing!!!

Nice running outfits! It was hilarious to see some of the things that people were running in!

... like this guy

Charles getting the crowd all rowdy just before he started his 3rd and final leg.

Here he is making the last climb to the Canyons Resort where the finish line was.

All of team Hammer! We finished 37th out of 658 co-ed teams.

It took 27 hours! Everyone did awesome!!!

We had such a fun time and were so glad that it was over but would do it again for sure!!!

Thanks again team Hammer for making it so great!!!

Cruising the Bahamas

2010-06-18T12:23:00.000-06:00

I have such a sweet and loving husband!!!! He booked a 4 night Bahama cruise at the very last minute and swept me off to paradise... with NO KIDS!!!! We started in Miami for a couple of days and loved the beaches and people watching in South Beach.

South Beach was beautiful, sharks and all. We were hanging out on this beach and some people came running down the beach yelling "SHARK SHARK GET OUT OF THE WATER!" People were scurring out of the water so fast! And minutes later a big old shark, fin and all came swimming right by the shore. It was CRAZY!!! and a little exciting. Minutes later everyone was back in the water swimming and playing. That was CRAZY!!!

View of Miami from the ship as we were leaving the port.

Praticing my golf swing on the ship. It is amazing the things you can do on those big ships!

Loving the amazing soft, white sands and crystal blue waters of Grand Bahama. The dark clouds loomed around all day and it never rained. This was an amazing beach!!!

I love shopping in all the nic-nac souvenir shops and talking with all the locals.

Waiting for a taxi back to the ship.

Watching the Lakers/Cletics game on the ship.

Having a blast at the dance party poolside on deck 11.

Charles with his Israeli girlfriends that we became friends with on the cruise.

Great Stirup Cay had fantastic snorkeling in super clear water out by the big rocks behind us. What a day!

Enjoying our last night on the cruise. Thank you sweet Charles for an amazing trip!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

the Butterfly release

2010-06-15T00:21:00.004-06:00

For Josie's birthday in January she got a kit for growing butterflies. So we waited until it was warm enough to release the butterflies and sent off for our larve. They came in the mail in two little jars with gross peanut butter looking stuff on the bottom. They feed on that and grew into big, fat caterpillars at a really alarming rate. And before we knew it there were crysalides on the lid of the jar. Josie would run every morning to check to see if the butterflies had come out yet, and lo and behold one morning there was one butterfly out and by the next day all 8 were fluttering around. So next was the big release. We were all so excited!!!

Josie took great care of her butterflies, feeding them orange slices and sugar water everyday.

She made sure they had plenty of flowers to fly onto.

The big moment.... opening the top of there home.

It took them a few minutes to realize that they could fly out.

Josie couldn't wait until the next one would fly out and then she would follow it around the yard to see where it landed.

Most of them went right to the flowers and started eating. This was such a fun little project for the whole family. We can't wait to do it again next year!

New beds

2010-06-06T20:51:00.001-06:00

Josie and Charlie got news beds recently. Josie wasn't that excited because it was a big downsize from her queen but Charlie was SO excited because it was a HUGE upsize from his tiny toddler bed.

The first night in his new bed he wanted Scout to sleep with him. He used to ask all the time if Scout could sleep with him but his bed was too small so he was very excited that she could finally fit on bed.

The second night he wanted to sleep with his favorite balls and his hockey stick. I can't wait to see what he wants to sleep with next!

The dead bird

2010-06-03T20:54:00.000-06:00

The other day the kids found a dead bird on the back porch. I think maybe it flew into the window or something. Then two days later we found another one.... weird. Of course they wanted to hold it so we got out a clothes pin and we were in business.

The girls wanted to find out what kind it was so we looked it up in our bird book and they think it was a Scott's Oriole. They were so worried about it. It was so funny!

Josie's Preschool program

2010-05-27T20:56:00.003-06:00

Josie LOVED preschool this year!!! She loved coming home and teaching everything she had learned to Charlie. She sure learned a lot and will miss her friends and teachers. She did great in her little program.

This is her BEST buddy Izak!

Josie loves Miss Dana and Grandma Barbara and is

already excited for next year when she can go back!

Josie's Gymnastics

2010-05-27T20:27:00.004-06:00

Since the begining of the year Josie has been doing gymnastics and she LOVES it. I asked her what her favorite thing to do at gymnastics was and I was thinking she would say the balance beam or the bars or something but she said "just talking to all my friends". And boy is that all she did! She learned a lot and talked more! But is was fun for me to go and watch her.

I love her in the little leotards.

Look at all those cute litte girls!

She likes doing the balance beam... ... because she gets to jump in the pit at the end of the beam.

All Josie's CUTE gymnastics friends!

(Tessa, Eliza, Lily, Ella, Ruby and Josie)

I love Springtime!

2010-05-19T21:44:00.007-06:00

As you all know by now I am terrible at keeping my blog up to date. We have done a lot of fun things this Spring. I love when the weather starts to get warmer, when you can do fun things outside again and spend time as a family. These are all the things that mean Springtime is here for me...

Scoccer! The kids loved going to the Real game.

Hair cuts outside in the backyard.

Planting seeds and flowers.

Being outside together as a family.

Hockey playoffs.

Easter outfits.

Rolling down big hills.

Playing basketball.

Cute babies with sun hats.

Easter egg hunts.

Flying kites.

I just loved this picture Springtime or not.

Nightly baths to get all the dirt off.

Hanging on the beach.

Show and tell at school.

None of the boys wanted to touch Mr. Butters.

Spring skiing.

Enjoying the sun!!!

I can't wait for summer!!!

Lunch for Frances

2010-03-03T12:25:00.004-07:00

Frances loves to eat!!! She is such a great eater. The other day I was getting ready to feed her some lunch and I had put her in her high chair, gotten her food out, opened and ready to feed her when something happened and I got distracted. But when I came back in the kitchen....

...this is what I saw! Charlie looked at me and said "feeding baby momma". He had climbed up on the stool and decided to feed her lunch. He sat and talked to her the whole time he was feeding her. It was so funny and cute to watch them.

Like the rest of us, he could not keep his mouth closed as he feed her.

I was laughing out loud watching him.

She thought it all was so funny! They both giggled the whole time!

It is so great to see the cute little relationship the kids have with each other.

I love them all!!!!

Josie and the scissors!!!!!

2010-02-18T21:39:00.006-07:00

So Josie had a little fun with the scissors the other day!!!!!! She has been using her kid scissors for ever and knows the #1 rule... that you ONLY can cut paper with scissors. Then for some reason she decided to cut her darling hair. She was playing quietly in her little princess tent and then the next thing we know she is about to cry. She went up to Charles on the verge of tears and said "I cut my hair and I probably should have left it the way it was." She was pretty upset that she had done it. Hopefully that will help her to remember to NEVER do it again. Oh well... it will grow back.

You can see in these pictures how crazy it was. Really short in some places with a few longer stragglers on top.

We took her to try to get it "fixed". It is so short but so cute and she LOVES it. I guess she will just have to get used to headbands and bows so people will know that she is a girl. I almost cried when I watched it all getting cut off. But now at least it will all grow back the same length.

She was so excited to show it off to her daddy! She told me that she knew that he would love it, and he does.

Good thing that she has a big personality to pull it off! She will be wearing a lot of dresses from now on! :)

4 years later...

2010-02-08T23:19:00.006-07:00

I know that every mother says this but... I can't believe that my little girl is 4!!! She is everything to me!!! After waiting 6 years to get her into our family, she is more than I ever could have imagined she would be. She is adorable, funny, kind, spunky, social and perfect! She makes my life so happy. I love her more and more each day as she grows and learns.

Any one who knows Josie knows that she LOVES animals. So Charles came up with this great idea to get her a pet.... a pet rat. As we researched rats as pets we both decided that it would be a perfect gift for her. She was shocked and surprised and soooooooooooooo excited!!! Of course she assumed that he was a she and wanted to name him Butterfly. When we told her that he was a boy she decided to call him Butters which has turned into Mr. Butters.

She was pretty nervous to even touch him at first, but that lasted a whole few minutes. Now she carries him around like he is her little baby.

Charlie has gotten over his nervousness too.

Josie loves to go bowling for her birthday. We have gone twice in the last two years and it was for her 3rd and 4th birthdays. It is so fun with the kids. This year Brighton, Josies big cousin came with us. I think their favorite part is waiting and watching the balls come back.

Brighton is really a great bowler for only being 7.

Charlie LOVED it! Anything with any type of ball he loves.

He would get SOOOOOO excited when the pins would fall.

Josie wanted to do it all by her self now that she is 4 years old.

We all had so much fun!

One cake and one party down.

Josie really wanted a Fiesta for her birthday, so having all the Pinegar's and Patten's over was a HUGE fiesta!!! She borrowed a "fiesta" dress from her cousin Tori. She felt so beautiful and special in it.

What's a fiesta without a pinata?

What a fiesta it was! She told me that she was so excited for the Patten's and the Pinegar's to meet. :) She loves them all so much!

Happy Birthday sweet Josie!! We love you!!!

The most wonderful time of the year....

2010-02-08T22:15:00.008-07:00

What a Christmas!!! Every year it gets better and better. As the kids get older it gets to be more and more fun! It is so fun to get together with friends and family and follow traditions and make new traditions.

I love getting the kids Christmas outfits for church.

We weren't fast enough to get a whole family

picture before they started melting down.

On Christmas Eve the Patten's came to our house for a party.
This is only a portion of the Patten cousins.

Cute Josie and Eliza!

I don't know how Charles fell asleep during all the craziness. Frances was having a great time!

Emilies friend came dressed as Santa and most of the kids were excited.Eliza was not that stoked on Santa this year. I love how she is peaking around her mom to catch a glimpse of Santa. That was good enough for her.

Getting ready for bed in new Christmas jammies.

Josie was so excited for put cookies and milk out for Santa.

Charlie polished off most of Santas cookies and milk before he went to bed.

Reading Twas the night before Christmas just before bedtime.

I love staying up late and getting everything ready for Christmas morning.

Josie LOVED her princess castle...

...and dress!

Charlie LOVED his scooter so much he was riding on it before it was even put together.

He could hardly wait for Charles to put it together.

Frances loved her new toys and hopefully she will fit into her hat next year.

We had the best Christmas yet! And I am sure that they will get better and better!

update...

2009-12-19T22:17:00.006-07:00

So... I haven't updated my blog in a really long time and figured that I had better try to catch up before Christmas and the new year, so here is what we have been doing this month...

Last year we started a new tradition. We went with Andy and Melissa and their family to cut down our Christmas tree. We had such a great time we thought that we should do it every year. Andy and Clark were so nice and went super early to stand in line and get tree permits for our family. We cut them down near Woodland UT. The kids loved being pulled around in the sled.

They were having such a blast!

I saw our tree down a steep hill so I hiked down there to cut it down and had a rough time getting it up the hill.

But it was totally worth it! It is a beautiful tree!

Trying to stay warm by the heater.

Charles took me to San Fransico for my birthday! What a spoiler! Our good friends the DeGraw's came to help celebrate and we had a GREAT time! Thanks Charles!

We ate at the BEST "Euro-Asian Seafood" restaurant and the roasted crab was unbelievable!

Of course we shopped in China town!

We made gingerbread houses at the Peterson's house and the kids had so much fun making them and eating all the candy.

December 5th is Sinter Claus day in Holland and growing up my family always celebrated. Sinter Claus would leave us oranges and a yummy chocolate letter for our name. The kids loved waking up to find their letter and having it for breakfast.

Santa Clause came to the ward primary party. Josie was SO excited to tell him that she wants a mermaid doll for Christmas.

We went sledding with my brother Spencer's family down in Fairview. Josie and Katy LOVE being together!

We all had such a great time! We love sledding! It is one of our favorite things about winter!

The cemetary where Chalres' day was buried last Feburary has one night before Christmas where they put lanterns throughout the entire place. It is really wonderful. The kids thought it was amazing! This will be a new tradition that we do each year.

What a wonderful time of year! There is so much going on and so many fun things to be doing. We love spending time with our family and friends. We can't wait for Christmas this year... the kids are so excited! It will be so much fun!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T20:52:00.000-06:00

We had such a fun Halloween! Josie and Charlie were more into trick or treating this year and it made it so fun! Josie was excited to be a tiger, Charlie fit into Josie's dragon costume from last year and Frances wore Charlie's costume from when he was born. They were all bundled up and it was a perfect Halloween night!

Josie was pretty unsure about our neighbor all dressed up and scary.

We ran into Josie's best buddy Izak while out trick or treating.

He was a "biker dude" according to Josie.

Eliza, Charlie and Josie squished into the wagon.

This is Josie looking at the spooky mummy at the neighbors house. The kids love driving by this house all October, but walking up to the door in the dark on Halloween night is a totally different thing.

Charlie and Olivia were a little nervous about the

scarry sounds coming from the spooky graveyard.

We had a great night and can't wait until next year to do it again!

Happy Halloween!

Charlie turns 2!

2009-10-30T00:22:00.000-06:00

It is hard to believe that 2 years ago Charlie was born. Where does the time go?

He is such a great little boy! He isn't talking much yet but he is getting better all the time. He is extremely sweet with his little sister and adores his big sister. We all LOVE Charlie BoBo!

Charles bought these lederhosen on his mission in Germany and I have been waiting for them to fit Charlie and finally they fit so he was a little German boy. Josie thought he needed a mustache so I gave him a Hitler mustache... why not Hitler was once a little German boy. :)

All the cute kiddos eating pizza.

Melissa, Olivia the ladybug, Andy, Eliza the cute witch and Drew as a cool Anican Skywalker. Look at his serious, cool face.

Andrew, Emilie as Miss Muffet, Finn the ninja, Tom the greaser and Tommy the spider.

Charles the coach, Josie the "girl" pirate... with a mustache, Charlie the German birthday boy, Me as Officer Patten and sweet Frances as Mr. Bones.

Susie the flapper, Avy as snow white, Whit as the gangsta and MaeElla the indian.

Grandma the cowgirl and all the adorable grandkids (which are only a portion of all her grandkids).

What's a Halloween party without bobbing for apples... right?!

Finn trying to put a bubble gum mole on Frankensteins (usually we use a witches face, but we couldn't find our witch this year) nose. Our Halloween version of pin the tail on the donkey.

Charlie getting a lot of help opening his presents.

Charlie blowing out his candles on his football cake.

Boo with a nice new hairdo.

Frances talking to uncle Ty.

What a fun Halloween Birthday party. Thanks to everyone who made it such a great party. We all love you Charlie!

A fun day in Milburn

2009-09-25T23:03:00.000-06:00

We had such a great time playing with Katy, Michael, Derby and Heather at their home in Milburn (next to Fairview). The girls had so much fun playing with all of Katy's princess's and Charlie loved the balloons for Spencer's birthday. There was a great storm that came through and knocked the power out. It didn't slow us down a bit. Heather made a great lunch and we talked non stop.

Josie and Katy play so great together! They had so much fun!

Derby liked holding Francie. It seems like yesterday that he was that little.

He is such a great kid!

Charlie had fun with the boys and the balloons!

Thanks for a great day Pinegar's!!!

Rainy moment in an Indian summer day

2009-09-21T23:11:00.003-06:00

Last Tuesday out of no where it started to pour! Josie couldn't believe how hard it was raining. She ran to the mud room and put her boots and jacket on and rushed outside with her umbrella. The storm lasted a whole 20 minutes and then it was sunny again. She had fun putting jars around the yard to "collect the rain for her collection". She told her cousin Lucy the other day that she loves to watch the storms with her Grandma. If any of you know Grandma Elaine you know that storm watching is one of her favorite things to do. It sure made her happy to know that Josie loves that too!

Josie's BIG week!

2009-09-13T21:17:00.003-06:00

This has been a big week for Josie with a lot of firsts.

And a big week for me dealing with the fact that my

little girl is growing up way too fast!!!

Josie started preschool! She goes Wednesday and

Friday's for a couple of hours and TOTALLY loves it!!!!

Miss Dana is her teacher and Josie really loves her!

The first day with her school bag that she

painted and is for "all her school stuff".

She also started a tumbling class this week.
She is in it with her cousin Eliza.
Josie was pretty excited to wear her little outfit.
She wanted to wear it under her pajamas the night before her first class.
They were so cute to watch the first day.
They were pretty giggly and bouncy.
They are going to have so much fun together!

Oh, and she struck this pose when I got the camera out, so cute!

Here is Josie on her second day of school. Charlie, Francie and I walk Josie to school in the morning and she wanted me to take a picture of her before we left. Maybe she thinks we will take a picture each day before school. It was so funny. She thinks, well knows that she is a big girl now since she goes to school. She is always saying that she can do new and different things now that she is a "school girl".

It is so unbelieveable how fast time flies by.

Is it really possible that Josie is old enough to be a preschooler?

Crazy!

Our summer

2009-09-06T21:10:00.013-06:00

I can't believe that summer is coming to an end. What a summer it has been!

The kids loved playing in the irrigation water

we get every 8 days all summer long.

The kids love climbing on the "big" rock at the lot.

We had some fun days at the lot. Charles took the kids up there a lot for overnighters while I stayed home either extremely pregnant or home with the Frances.
The kids always have a great time with their daddy!

Over Memorial Day we went camping to Joe's Valley.
Fishing was fun even though no one caught anything.

Heather made the best marshmellow roasting stick EVER!

It roasted like 5 at a time.

I love nights around the campfire. We had a great time!

...until our kids TOTALLY melted down when we had to go home.

We had a great Pinegar family reunion at a lodge in Park City.

My brother taught my mom how to chop wood.

You would never know she just turned 73! Way to go mom!

We held the first ever "Polar plunge". It was in June so it wasn't

really that cold, but just wait until next year!

What is summer without at least one day at Lagoon... right!

We had fun at the movies in the park.

We had soooooooooo many swimming days...

pretty much everyday!

Josie took her first swimming lessons this summer and is a GREAT swimmer.

I LOVE the 4th of July and the Millcreek parade.

Charlie getting a high 5 from the motorcycle Police.

Our family just 6 days before Frances was born.

This is how huge and uncomfortable I was the night before Frances was born.

The Patten girls!

Sweet baby Frances!!!

It is so nice not being pregnant anymore!!!!

Watching Charles kitesail at UT lake.

Charlie has shot a lot of basketballs this summer.

He is getting pretty darn good at it!!! He LOVES playing ball... any ball too,

soccer, basketball, football, baseball you name it he loves it!!!!

When the baby came I moved Charlie into Josie's room. The first night was

kind of a nightmare. They played and played in there for hours.

Then they finally crashed. You can see that Charlie does have his own bed...

...but he doesn't sleep in it much.

This is them the next day about 10:00 in the morning.

Their crazy late night had caught up to them.
They are doing great now and love sharing a room.

Josie has spent the summer making "salads" out of leaves and flower petals.
She has pretty much stripped all the flowers in our yard of any petal. There are cups and plastic bags all over the yard filled with her "salads". This is her making one up Millcreek canyon. She has quite the imagnation!

Countless hours have been spent playing on our new playset.

The kids totally love it! And so do I, it is like my nanny.

This is one evening up at Rockport boating on Andy and Melissa's new boat!
Josie found a dragonfly and carried it around all night. She named it Evenroo, like from The Resucers. She fell asleep in the Jeep on the way home and was devestated that it had blown away by the time we had gotten home. Oh well.

Boo got shot by a porcupine up at the lot.

The kids could not believe it!

Luckily it wasn't that bad.

We had a big last hoorah pool party before school started.

Summer sure flew by.

Josie is going to preschool this year and this was the morning of her orientation.

She is so excited to go "for real" this week. She will have so much fun!

I can't believe I have THREE kids!!!

We blessed Frances this Sunday and it was a wonderful day!

I am so happy to be the mother of 3 darling children

and the wife to such an amazing man!

LIFE IS GOOD!!!

.... and now I am caught up!

Sweet Frances Elaine

2009-09-06T20:16:00.008-06:00

Well I am finally getting back to my blog. It is not that I haven't had anything wonderful to blog about... but because there is so much to blog about that I have felt overwhelmed, and while I was pregnant I just felt too exhausted to get back into it. But now that that is all

behind me and I am ready to go again. SO much has been happening around

here and my world has totally changed (for the better of course).

Our sweet Frances Elaine was born July 10 and we all love her so much!

I think she totally looks like a Patten. In fact her Grandma Elaine showed me

a picture of herself when she was a newborn and they look so much alike.

It is so sweet especially since that is who she is named after.

Josie wasn't so sure about having a baby sister at first.
But it sure didn't take long for her to absolutely adore her!

I am hoping that she will have more of Charles

coloring in her hair and eyes. So far she does.

Josie LOVES to hold her baby sister.

Charlie LOVES to share things with his baby sister.

This is his beloved duck and his cuppy.

He is always putting his things near her... to share of course.

He also loves giving her kisses on her head.

And when he does he gets this high pitched coo and aww in his voice.

He knows how you are supposed to talk to a baby. It is so funny.

Josie is very helpful and always wants to do things for Frances.

Anytime I put Frances under her "jungle" Charlie dives under it with her.

He talks to her (his gibber talk) and points to things for her, it is like he is just telling her all about what they are looking at. She just lays there and listens. She is always really calm and attentive when Charlie is by her. The other day he was telling her how to say all the words he know. He was holding her hand looking at her and in his high voice saying "mommy, daddy, scout, juice..." it was the cutest thing. I think they will be really great friends as they grow up.

She is such a happy, mellow, sweet natured baby and we
are all so in love with her and happy that she is part of our family!

Our first family vacation!

2009-04-26T19:58:00.021-06:00

We had the best family vacation EVER! We went to Hawaii for the first time and took the kids for a family vacation. Charlie is 18months and Josie is 3 so it was a little crazy but so worth it!

(sorry this is so long, but it is like my scrapbook/journal)

Josie got her own suitcase and had been "praticing" pulling it around the house for a while and she did a great job pulling it around the airport. She was so excited to go. Anyone she would see she would ask if they were going to go to Hawaii with us and when they would reply No she would say "Well you should because we are going to have SO much fun!" It was hilarious!

I really did try to pack light... oh well.

Josie at the airport with Drew and Eliza. They were all pretty excited!

Welcome to Maui! In the lobby at the Marriott. It was a beautiful resort!

Charles was just as giddy as the kids.
Here he is doing the hula on the balcony of our condo.

First time on the beach with the kids. Josie had been asking for so long

if we can go to the beach, so she was really happy to finally be there.

Josie picked half the flowers there. She just couldn't help herself!

The kids loved playing in the sand!

An afternoon walk on the boardwalk.

We were on our way to our beach spot and Josie figured out

how to hang her bucket on her necklace so she could

still eat her snowcone. It was so clever and funny!

Charlie didn't seem to be bothered at all

when he was completely covered in sand.

Charlie is learning early to have his toes on the nose!

He loved playing with the boogie boards.

Melissa and Andy enjoying the sunset on the beach.

Drew was so great with Charlie.

He looked out for him and is such a great big cousin!

Josie and Eliza stripped to their undies (that happen to be matching)

when their dresses got soaked. They had SO much fun!

This was on Sunday outside the church in Laihana.

Josie loved her water shirt.

Drew and Josie just chilling by the pool. SO cute!

Charles took the kids on an early morning walk

everyday and they always had so much fun.

Charles and Chalrie boogie boarding.

Charles doing the Disco roll dance on the beach. lol

We all loved being on the beach and playing in the water.

Grandma Elaine all decked out in lai's.

Drew holding an octopus that someone had caught. Gross!

What a brave little guy!

All together cruising the boardwalk to the beach.

Just playing on the beach with Charlie.

We took turns snorkeling out to the black rock

(in the background)and we saw turtles and a lot of cool fish.

Josie fell asleep on the walk to our spot on the beach.

That girl can sleep anywhere.

Clark and I heading out snorkeling. He was screaming through

his snorkel when he saw the turtles. It was hilarious!

The family playing in the water.

One morning early Charles and Josie went out for a walk

and when I went out on the balcony I saw them on the beach

buliding a sandcastle. It was really cute to see them having

so much fun together on the beach.

I have always wanted to go on a whale watching excursion and we just happen to be in Maui during the tail end of the whale watching season. One morning we got up super early and took a boat out and saw some whales and it was AMAZING!

Here is Charles and Josie on the boat.

The kids had fun.

Here are a bunch of males fighting for the breeding rights of one female.

It was unbelievable to see!! Clark took these pictures while

I held a sleeping Charlie. Good pics Clark!

Josie and Eliza had so much fun together!

They played non stop! I love this picture of them.

We took a ton of pictures one night of all of us.

The sunsets were beautiful!

Clark liked having his picture taken! Alot!!!

What a great picture of Andy, Melissa, Drew and Eliza.

The brothers on the trip! What a great picture of all of them!

Me with my sweetie!

The whole clan

I love this picture of Charles and Charlie.

On our last day we went to the Aquarium.

It is one of the best in the world and it was so amazing!

We were really glad we went. Of course Josie LOVED it!

This was the best trip! The weather was perfect, our hotel was amazing and all of us together made it so much fun! Josie asked Charles the day we got home when we were moving back to Hawaii. She hasn't stopped talking about it. It was a great experience for all of us.

A Happy Easter

2009-04-14T16:39:00.004-06:00

We had such a fun Easter weekend. We always get together at Moni's house and color our Easter eggs. As usual it was a blast. It get's more and more fun each year as the kids get older and understand more and can do more. Josie LOVED coloring the eggs and of course the egg hunt after. She was so proud of herself when she got to hide them for the big kids. Thanks Kristin for having Josie and Charlie over for an egg hunt on Saturday. The yard was FILLED with eggs and Josie didn't really know where to start, there were so many eggs. All Charlie cared about was the little play set with the slide. I think he picked up one egg. We had fabulous Easter dinners at Moni and Grandpa's house and Allison's house. It is always so great to be surrounded by family during a holiday!

Here is Josie extremely proud of her eggs.

Charlie hardly goes anywhere anymore with out his ball.

Easter Sunday in their new outfits.
Josies new fake smile crackes me up!

What a handsome little guy!

I have more luck getting a good picture when they

don't know I am taking one. She is so adorable!

They got a new "Spring" present.

Perfect for playing with outside.

What a wonderful time of year! It is so exciting that Spring

is here and Summer is right around the corner!
(as I am writing this, it is snowing outside... oh well)

Charlie's first buzz

2009-03-20T15:04:00.003-06:00

Oh sweet Charlie and his mullet! I was getting so SICK of his crazy hair so Charles gave him a buzz. He is such an adorable boy with big glowing blue eyes and rosey cheeks, but his hair just wasn't doing him any justice. Here are a few before picture with the mullet.

Notice the rats nest on the back of his head... nice.

Here he is with a skullet. For those of you who are not familiar with what a skullet is... it is a mullet with no hair on top, usually the men are totally or partially bald.

And here he is with a new hair do and a new personality.

He became the happiest boy the second his hair was cut.

It was like he was let out of jail with his new do.

He was being so hyper and playful and Thomas

wasn't sure what to think about it all.

He went from nasty mullet, to a yucky skullet to the most

adorable boy on the planet!!! He looks like a totally different little boy.

His eyes just pop now and he is so happy and smiley all the time.

I love my little Bobo. He is such a joy!

This is my favorite picture of the two Charles together EVER!!! So cute!

St. Patrick's Day bunnies

2009-03-17T14:58:00.000-06:00

Josie was so excited about St. Patrick's Day. She was excited to wear green so she wouldn't get pinched (and reminded everyone that they needed to wear green too) and excited that the Leprecans turned the milk green and left shamrocks all over the house. It was a really fun day. I fixed a good old Irish dinner of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes. Lauren came to dinner and so did Andy and Melissa and their family and they brought green jello and broccoli. The Smith's joined us as well and Lori brought her delicious carrot cake with green frosting. It was all so fun but the hightlight of the day was when Blaine brought over some 7 day old bunnies for the kids to see and hold. They were so tiny and cute. The kids LOVED it!

Andy and his girls Olivia and Eliza.

Charles , Charlie and Josie

They girls LOVED this bunny. Josie named it Jasmine and Eliza named it Lucy.

Cute Eliza giving the bunny a "kiss with her nose".

Josie didn't want to put it down. She LOVED holding it!

Josie turns 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-22T22:00:00.008-07:00

Our sweet little girl turned 3 today! It really blows my mind that the time has passed so fast. We waited so long for her to come and now look at us... 2 with one coming in July! Who would have ever guessed that we would have such a family. Well Josie is such a joy in my life. She is so amazing! I am amazed by her every single day by the things she does and the things she says. We were watching American Idol the other night and there was a story about a girl who has been singing since she was 3 and Charles asked Josie if she likes to sing, (and she does, she sings her own little songs all day long) and Josie said "Na, I like to cut things with my scissors and play with my animals" all matter of factly like come on daddy duh! And does she ever! She is a paper cutting, animal loving fool! And we love her so dearly and can't imagine life without her.

We went to the Aquarium this afternoon and Josie was sooooooo excited to show her daddy everything because he had never been there before. She was running all over the place showing him where all the different "ocean animals" were.

She was in total heaven and so happy to

be showing daddy everything!

Charlie loved crawling through the little caves.

Then we went to Fat Cats for dinner and bowling. I told Josie what the plan was for the evening and she kept asking me "What's called bowling?" That means what is bowling. She has never been before so I tried to show her and explain it to her but she still had no idea until we got there and she got so spazzy and wild and could hardly contain herself she was so excited!

Charlie would try to pick up daddy's 15lb. ball and get all mad

because he couldn't pick it up. He had a fun time watching though.

Josie thought she was so strong because

she could pick up her 8lb. ball.

She was so proud of herself after she

would launch her ball onto the lane.

She couldn't wait to see how many
pins her ball knocked down.

It felt like it took forever some times for

the ball to finally make it to the pins.

I thought the ball was going to stop mid lane,

but somehow it kept rolling along.

Giving daddy 10 after a great turn!

She loved to watch Charles go on his turn.

She was so excited about everything!

Bowling and pizza was so much fun!

Then it was home for cake and presents! Thankfully Scout left us some of the cake. You can see where she had licked some of the cake away. We cut that part off and the cake was great :)

Charlie look pretty excited about this gift!

Charles gave her the best zoology book ever! She LOVED it!

And she got a princess castle. YEAH!

She about died when she had to go to bed

and couldn't play with it anymore.

It is always a bonus when they actually like

there presents and really play with them.

What a great day for all of us. This morning in the bath she kept singing "I'm so happy, I'm so happy" over and over and she truly was all day. She is such a smart, talented, beautiful, funny, active, charming little girl and we love her. Happy 3rd Birthday Josie!

Charles and Josie go skiing!

2009-01-18T14:32:00.008-07:00

On Friday Charles took Josie skiing at Alta on the free tow rope hill. She was so excited to go! She was especially excited to go with some friends, the Petersons.

Charlie and I hung out on the slope taking pictures.

Steph and Lincoln heading up the hill.

John and Logan

Charles and Josie

Logan is like a PRO. He is 5 and doing awesome!

Way to go John... such a good teacher!!!

Lincoln is 3 and he was amazing... it was his first time!

He had such a big grin on his face the whole time.

Charles taught Josie how to keep her balance with her arms out.

She was having such a fun time.

It seems a little sureal that this is my little girl! All those years working on the slopes and seeing the cute little skiers out on the hill learning how to ski, and now to think that Josie is one of them. CRAZY and fun!

Look how cute! Charles is so patient and sweet with her!

She did so well and so did Charles teaching her.

She was getting tired by the end and needed a little break.

The skiing Peterson family!

It was so nice to get out of the yuck for the afternoon!

We are so fortunate to have the mountains in our back yards!

What a Christmas!

2008-12-30T20:49:00.010-07:00

This was the best Christmas ever!!!! Charles said that I say this every year, but it truly was this year. The kids made everything so fun and exciting! Josie totally got it all and that made it extra fun for all of us. Charlie was just excited to be there.

Here are the kids putting cookies and milk out for Santa.

And you can't forget the reindeer. Josie put carrots in her klopen for them and was more excited that they were gone in the morning than the cookies and milk for Santa.

Charlie got to the Santa cookies long before Santa even had a chance.

We were all so excited for Christmas morning!

Santa left Josie just what she wanted... her own kitchen!

Santa left me a gorgeous diamond 10th Annivesary/Christmas

ring. It looks like Scout is trying to eat my hand off,

but she was just as excited about it as I was... and still am.

This picture does it no justice.

Great job Santa!!!!!!!

Josie as so excited to give Scout and Boo their presents!

Charles got a new backpack for him and the kiddies. Charlie loves it already!

We will get a lot of use out of it at the lot next year.

Charlie got tents and tubes and was in total heaven!

He was so happy to climb in and out and all over!

Josie couldn't wait to see when he would come out

and he loved playing with her.
Josie helped everyone open all of their presents and was so excited about each and every one. She thought they were all for everyone, which I guess they really are. After she would open one, she would say..."look what our family got!" It was so funny, and she is still good a sharing them.

She LOVES making "jungles" with all her new animals.

Scout loves getting warm by the fire.

I think the best part about Christmas morning is after all the presents are opened, then you can hang out and play with everything and look at all the great stuff that everyone got.

This is moments before Charlie hucked the car in his hand and it hit Josie on the head, bounced off and hit Charles in the eye. They were all crying after. But they had a great time before it happened.

We had the best Christmas ever for sure this year! I am sure they will keep getting better and better too. It is sad that it comes and goes so fast, but it is exciting to look forward to the coming new year!

Our Christmas tree

2008-11-30T21:57:00.008-07:00

For the past few years the Pattens have talked about going and cutting our own Christmas trees down for Christmas. Thanks to Melissa who got on the ball, we got permits this year. We drove to Evanston, WY and then headed into the Uintahs. I was so excited to go. I hoped that there would be snow to make it feel more like Christmas. We loaded up all the snow gear and got all bundled and were off.

Our first stop wasn't successful. The trees were kind of yellowish and not what we had in mind. So we headed off to another spot. We actually went up a road called Christmas Meadows and that is where we cut our tree down.

Josie had so much fun hiking around in the snow.

As we were driving down the road, Charles and I were looking for the perfect tree. I noticed a really funny tree. It was about 30 feet tall but only the top of the tree had branches. It looked like a great tree so we checked it out. And of all the trees we saw it was our favorite.

Luckily it had a very small trunk and was easy to saw down.

Thanks Andy for helping me.

Our very own tree that we cut down with our very own hands.

It really is a beautiful tree.

When Charles got it to the truck, we realized

how big it really was. But it fit just fine.

Charlie was having so much fun in the snow.

This was his first snow day ever! He loved it!

Josie and Eliza were soooo silly. They loved eating the snow.

Here is Andy and Melissa big beautiful tree.

Maybe half of that tree would fit in our house.

We all had such a fun time. I hope that this is a

new tradition that we will continue forever!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-30T21:09:00.006-07:00

I LOVE Thanksgiving and all the time spent with family and all the traditions!

Every year we make pies at my moms house on the Wednesday before

Thanksgiving and Josie had so much fun helping.

It was fun to see the little girls interested and helping this year.

The older girls look way too busy to help make pies anymore! :)

Josie was so into making her own pie.
I think she put some of her olives from lunch in it. YUM!

The best part was getting all messy!

Thursday we went to Andy and Melissa's home for the Thanksgiving feast.

It was a great random crowd this year. Melissa's sweet parents were there,

my brother and his kids, Mom, Dad, Clark, Allison and her family and us.

It was such a great feast with TONS of yummy food.

This is the "big kids" table...

the "little kids" table...
and this is the big, big kids table.

My brother Tyler and I (with my cheeks stuffed with food).

Ty and his girls Cleo and Lucy playing in the backyard.

Max hanging out in his jacket that his dad fits into.

Charles and Josie getting ready for the Turkey bowl.

Here is Andy running in for a TD after he had snatched the

ball right from Charles hands. Nice interception!

Melissa "jumping" all the little kids! They were loving it!

Charlie enjoying the leaves and sticks as he watched the turkey bowl.

What a great day! Thank you everyone for making it so wonderful and fun!

Josie has her first sleep over!

2008-11-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

Drew and Eliza slept over and Josie was sooooooo excited.

She couldn't believe they were going to sleep in her bed with her.

That was going to be the best thing ever!

Josie had just gotten a new book about a pilgrim girl

who meets an indian and she was so excited for them to read it with her.

Boo loves to sleep on Josie's bed. Drew and Eliza loved it too.

After a about 3 books, I finally turned the lights off and told them it

was time to go to sleep. I could hear chatting and giggling forever.

I would go in there and they would tell me they weren't tired,

especially Eliza. She kept saying she didn't need to go to bed yet.

She looks pretty tired here. Cute girl!

The chatting and giggling finally stopped and I creeped in there to get a picture. Look how cute Drew and Eliza are! Drew all cuddled next to his sister. And Josie had taken her pajamas off? I am not sure why she does that. It was so cute to see them all sleeping in Josie bed together!

The next morning they all got up pretty early and were ready to play. They confessed to me that they all had gotten up in the night and were walking around. They thought that was so funny. Josie is so lucky to have such great cousins that she loves so much. Thanks for sleeping over Drew and Eliza! We sure love you!

Twilight!

2008-11-23T21:20:00.003-07:00

I am proud to say that I am one of those dorks who went to see the Twilight movie at 12:01 am the day it came out! I went with my sisters and neices, we have all read it and we had a blast! Here we are in front of the poster in the lobby Heather, Marilyn, Tori, Heather, Paula, Michelle and me. I totally felt like a little teeny bopper. I was hyper and so excited!

Marilyn, Heather, Heather and Michelle. Marilyn and Heather should be embarrassed about how out of control they were!!! hehe All the hooting and hollering during the movie? jk

Tori, Paula and I waiting on pins and needles for the movie to start.

Tori was sitting next to the cutest boy. We kept trying to get her to talk to him.

She was too embarrassed. He kept looking at her and making little

comments to her during the movie. It was hilarious! She is such a doll!

Thanks everyone for going to the show!

I had so much fun with you all and I love you all soooooooooooo much!

and thanks Paula for finally reading it. Tori and I knew you would love it!

Saturday morning I went to the movie again with Melissa.

I was just as excited to see it again as I was the first time!

I thought it was really great!

Charles turns 32.... not 33!

2008-11-23T20:20:00.007-07:00

Happy Birthday Charles! He turned 32 on the 10th. As we were talking about his birthday coming up he said he couldn't believe that he was turning 33. I laughed! I guess he had forgotten that he was born in 1976. When he realized this he felt relieved. It was like he was getting a year of his life back. He had a fun birthday! He got some cool gifts...

the best one from Josie, the Elefun game.

The kids have loved playing it with their daddy!

Man there a alot of candles on that cake... 32 not 33!

For his party we invited the family to go swimming at the Holladay Lion's Club.

We all had so much fun on the waterslide and the lazy river. It was so fun to run into our friends Brant, Kristen and Isaac Wallace there. They are such a cute family.

Josie was so excited to be swimming indoors.

Charlie had so much fun even though he was freezing.

His whole face turned blue. He LOVES the water!

All the babies in the famliy! 4 within 4 months.

Olivia, MaeElla, Charlie and Tommie.

The kids all had a blast! Josie loves getting together with her cousins!

Happy Birthday Charles! I hope your 32nd year is wonderful and exciting!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T22:01:00.000-06:00

We had such a fun Halloween! It is so sad that is is over and all the Halloween candy has been eaten. It was really fun for me this year to see how excited Josie was to go trick or treating. We had been praticing for weeks. I was in the hospital last year after just having Charlie so it was fun to be out there with the kids. Josie wanted to have her face painted like a dragon, and since I have NO artistic abilities... this is what her face ended up looking like. Oh well, she loved it! And it was all rubbed off in a short time anyway! Halloween day started out visiting Moni so she could see the kids in their costumes. The night started out visiting Grandma and then Grandpa.

Josie was excited about her pumpkin flash light.

We went trick or treating with Andy, Melissa, Drew, Eliza and Olivia and Josie loved every second of it! She would stand at the door for ever after she had gotten her treat. Maybe she thought if she stood there long enough, they would give her more.

Here are all the kids minus Charlie.

I love Drew and Josie in this picture!

He is always so sweet to her!

Josie stomped right though these leaves after

I am sure they had racked them up nicely for the evening.

She had so much fun doing it.

Olivia and Charlie enjoying the ride around the neighborhood.

Charlie enjoying his sucker while on his ride.

Andy was nice enough to haul the kids all night in the wagon.

Josie loved that part of the night!

When we finally got home, Josie was so excited to

answer the door and give the kids candy.

She would give them HUGE handfuls.

Their eyes were all popping out!

But the best part was when she dumped out

all the candy and we sorted it all.

That was my favorite part as a kid too,

checking out all the goods we had gotten.

What a fun night for all of us!

What a PARTY!

2008-10-30T21:52:00.001-06:00

Charlie turned 1 and we had such a fun Halloween/Birthday party.

I can't figure out where the last year of my life went!

It has totally flown by. He is such a fun little guy

and brings so much happiness to our family!

Here is Sarah Palin (Allison) helping serve the

soup along with Paula the pirate.

Here is a whole bunch of people including

Marilyn the Chemist testing the soup.

Cleo the pink fairy, Naomi the witch, Josie the

dragon and Lucy the purple fairy.

Michael the motorcross guy, Derby and Finn Starwars guys.

Some freak with Stan the construction guy.

The teenagers Cooper the beach bum, Heather,

Hannah and Tori the Crosscountry runner.

Charlie the lion and Tommy the giraffe

Katy the witch and Josie the dragon.

Jake the gansta.

Eliza is Supergirl and Josie is still a dragon.

Finn, Charles the hockey guy, Charlie and Josie.

Charles keeps his hockey stuff in the garage and everytime Josie sees it

she says "There is daddy's costume".

Maelle, Whitney and Susie. Their family theme was

the big bad wolf and three little piggies.

Andy and Melissa the cowboys.

Katy the witch, Nick the hippie, Josie and Sofie the "spider" witch.

Eliza as Supergirl and Drew as a Batman guy.

Lauren the cowboy.

We bobbed for apples and the kids loved it! .
Charlie really loved eating his apple.

Thanks Melissa for egging me on to go next.
I act like such an idiot around the kids!
They probably think I am crazy!

Josie thought it was so funny!

Next we played "stick the wart on the witches nose".
This was the biggest hit! All the kids chewed a piece of gum and then
were blindfolded and had to try and get their wart on the witches nose.

Eliza wanted me to take a picture of her supergirl gum.

Poor witchy poo! She got plastered with warts!

Cake and presents are always fun!

Eating the cake is the best part!

Charlie had such a fun night! I was afraid that he would
get too tired and bomb out, but he was great!

Everyone had fun playing with his new toys.

I had to put this one in because Josie looks so cute!

I found Josie and Eliza having a blast in Josie's room!

Happy Birthday sweet boy! We all love you!

We can't wait to see what the next year brings for Charlie!

Witches at Gardner Village

2008-10-29T20:11:00.005-06:00

What a beautiful day to go to Gardner Village and see all the witches.

We went with Melissa, Drew, Eliza and Olivia and had a great time.

The witches are all so funny and big. The kids loved it!

Charlie wanted to get out of his stroller so bad.

He is sooooo close to walking and will be so happy when he can finally walk.

He was so happy to climb around on the pumpkins.

I love pumpkin pictures!

Josie looks a little nervous to be sitting so close to a witch.

Drew and Josie scaled this wall to get to the cat.
We kept seeing it around and they would corner it every time.
It bit Josie on the thumb and she thought it was great. Silly girl!

Eliza and Drew were trying to teach Josie how to
swing her hips to do the hula hoop like this witch.
They really know how to swing their hips.
Drew was so funny shaking his hips around!
I love that they had to hold their shirts up to shake their hips.
It was so cute!

Josie really liked the witches, but she LOVED the ducks.She was excited to find some of their feathers.

It was another perfect day to be outside. We really had a great time!

We wanted to get the kids all together for a picture...
I guess we should have done that first thing
instead of the last thing before we left. Oh well.
We know we had a super fun time!

Thanks Melissa for letting us go with you and the kids!

This will definetly be a new tradition for us.

Carving pumpkins

2008-10-29T20:05:00.005-06:00

What a night! We had a blast carving our pumpkins tonight.

We grew them in our own pumpkin patch.

Not really much of a patch since we only got 3 pumpkins out of it.

Josie is pretty proud of our pumpkins that "she" grew.

It was fun watching them grow all summer and

then to finally be able to pick them was pretty exciting.

This was Josies first time carving pumpkins and she had so much fun!

Josie wanted us all to wear aprons for our big project.

She loved getting the guts out! I always loved that part.

We baked the seeds to eat. I always loved that part too.

Charles helped Charlie get some of the guts.

He was a little unsure at first but then.....

He decided that he really liked it!

Josie was pretty giddy about every step. Charles and I were too.

We haven't carved a pumpkin since we were kids ourselves.

We had so much fun doing it.

Josie loved drawing the face on her own pumpkin.

She drew the eyes, mouth, cheeks, ears, arms, and fingers.

Unfortunately we could only fit the eyes, mouth and cheeks on there.

She is quite the little artist!

Josie had a great time watching her daddy carve it all out.

Charlie had a great time eating everything.

Josie was so happy about her pumpkin and that Daddy helped her.

We all had so much fun!

Halloween at the Zoo

2008-10-26T22:01:00.007-06:00

Josie's wildest dream came true this weekend.

The zoo and Halloween at the same time!

We went to the trick or treating at the zoo on Saturday,

along with the rest of SLC.

It was a totally perfect day and the kids had such a great time.

Josie was in heaven!

It is always so great to have Charles brother Aaron around.

He makes everything fun!

Josie loved having Daddy there.

Ususally it is just boring Momma and Charlie.

She wouldn't let go of his hand! I love her costume from the back!

Charlie just chilled as usual... but was really pretty hot in his lion suit.

The weather was unbelievably wonderful!

Cruising around the zoo on October 25th in just t-shirts!

It was great!

Josie and Eliza had a great time holding hands and looking adorable!

Drew is the best big cousin! He takes such great care of Josie.
She loves Drew. They were dancing to the music having a great time.

The daddy's were great! And ready to go by the end.

Pretty much all the candy was eaten before we even left.
It was definetly another great day at the zoo!

The zoo with Moni!

2008-10-26T12:40:00.004-06:00

This week we went to the zoo with Moni. Josie loved sharing it with her.

It was exciting to have her there and see her have such a fun time with Josie and Charlie.

Josie took her binoculars so that she could see the animals better.

It was so funny to see her look at the animals through them.

Josie HAS to sit on the gorilla's lap every time we go.

Moni took Josie and Charlie on the carasouel. It was very special because I always tell Josie that we have to wait to go on it until someone comes with us to help. Josie LOVED it! And was glad that Moni was there to help her go on it.

It started out cold and then turned into a beautiful day.

We had such a great day at the zoo with Moni.

Thanks Moni! We sure love you!

It's coming along!

2008-10-15T23:05:00.003-06:00

It was another excitng night at the lot.

Look how far it has come! The roof is on so at least next

time it snows, everything won't get soaked inside!

Blaine, Stewart, Andy and Charles all worked really hard tonight!

Well.... at least Blaine did!

They were all on the steep, I mean really steep, roof putting on the tar paper.

Here is Andy ... I'm sure he is being very careful.

We don't want another Uncle Grant incident!

It looks like they were just hanging out up there on the tippy top of the roof!

At least they were able to get an amazing view of the Hunter's Moon.
It was MAGNIFICANT!

Thanks boys... for all your hard work tonight!

We almost have a roof thanks to the Smity's!

2008-10-14T14:20:00.003-06:00

After a quick sloppy joe dinner, Charles, Uncle Grant, Blaine, Lori and Truman Smith all went to work on the roof. The Smith's are our neighbors and some of our favorite people.

Blaine is a builder and was kind enough to offer to come and help with the roof.

Chalres is learning a lot about all this construction stuff and Truman watched a lot!

We love you Turbo!

Charles is a little... or a lot... afraid of heights, so way to go babe on helping put the roof on!
Lori is AMAZING!! She just get's down to business and helped where ever she could!

It was another successful night at the bunkhouse! Thanks so much to the Smith's for all your help! It is always great to spend time with you guys!

A cold Saturday!

2008-10-12T21:30:00.003-06:00

My darling niece Victoria runs cross country for Timpanogos High School and she is only a freshman. Her Region meet was on Saturday. What a day for a 5k! It was totally cold and wet, but that didn't slow her down. Her JV team took first. Good job Tori!

Josie loves her "friend" Tori! She was cheering for her.
I ran Cross Country at Mountain View HS (go Bruins!)

and so I was totally excited for Tori when she made the team.

Being at the meet brought back so many memories. It was really fun.

Next Nick, Tori's younger brother had a football game.

By the time the game was over it was sooooooooooooooooo cold. Charlie had had it!
Even though it was cold, it was so fun to go the these events. It makes me excited for my own kids to be involved with things as they get older. I am afraid that will be here before I know it! Yikes!

Snow already?

2008-10-12T21:06:00.006-06:00

Josie was so excited this morning when she woke up, to see 3 inches in our yard. She was ready to go out and play in it, but unfortunately we have early church so she had to wait to play in it after church. The second we got home she ran to get her boots and was out the door. I barely cuaght her to get her coat on.

Her hands were so cold from picking up the snow to eat it,

she found it easier to just bend over and eat it right off the ground.

I am excited for Fall, but I don't think I am ready for Winter... yet. And I just posted how much I am enjoying an Indian Summer. I guess that is good old Utah weather for you!

Indian Summer

2008-10-09T21:16:00.006-06:00

I always know when Fall is really here, and it's when our grapes

are ready to pick and turn into grapejuice.

Josie has been eating them since August (yuck) but is really enjoying them now.

She plays with them more than she eats them.

Our garden is pretty much done for the year.

Charlie made quick work of the last of the veggies.

There is nothing like kicking it outside during the last of the Indian Summer days.
The snow will be here before we know it!

Josie LOVES Boo!

2008-10-05T23:32:00.004-06:00

Josie is in love with Boo right now! We had him shaved last week and now that he isn't a hairy mess, we all love to pet him so much more. Well, Josie can't keep her hands off of him. He has to sleep in her room, he has to lay by the couch if she watches a movie and he has to be outside with her when she plays. She calls him "little puppy", "big buddy" and "sweet Booy". He is a sweetie and we are so glad that he is part of our family.

It finally is starting to look like something...

2008-10-05T23:20:00.004-06:00

... a bunkhouse! Yeah!

It used to just look like a tall, skinny box, but now it is our bunkhouse!

This is the view from the main road that goes by our property.

It has totally amazed me how fast they have bulit this thing.
Before you know it we will be sleeping in it. I can't wait!
The other night driving home from working on the bunkhouse, Charles and I were talking about how exciting it all is and Josie, who must have been listening from the back seat said "I think the bunkhouse is great! I love the bunkhouse!"

So I guess we aren't the only ones stoked for the bunkhouse.

Hair cuts for the kiddos!

2008-10-02T14:16:00.002-06:00

I finally gave in and took the kids to get their hair cut.

I attempted to cut Josie's once and it was pretty bad

and Charlie's mullet was getting out of control.

So off to Cookie Cutters we went.

Josie loved sitting in the pink car and watching Lion King.

Charlie loved flying his airplane.

Josie's hair finally looks cute and curly. WOW!

Charlie looks like a little man.

I took them to the elementary school today for school pictures and their hair was adorable!

More on the Bunkhouse... a lot more!

2008-09-27T21:35:00.008-06:00

This is Thursday September 25th, just starting the foundation.
Uncle Grant, Whitney, Andy, Mom and Charles all worked so hard!

Josie had the best seat to watch!

So did Charlie and Olivia.

Andy sure looks like he knows what he is doing!

Eliza stayed busy building her "own house".

Drew stayed busy leaping everywhere!

I can't believe how fast they were working!

This is Sunday September 28th. Can you believe it?!!!!!
I missed Friday and Saturday staying home with sick kids, and I couldn't believe my eyes when we went for our Sunday drive to the check things out. It is amazing that they could do this much work in only 3 days! Way to go guys!!!!!!

We are sitting where the big french doors will be, leading out to the deck.

This is the view from those doors and the deck. Isn't it wonderful!

We are all pretty excited!

My SWEET boy!

2008-09-27T18:13:00.005-06:00

I totally love the phase Charlie is in right now!

He is always so happy and funny.

When I look at his smiling face I have to squeeze it and kiss it!

He follows me around the house all day and loves to do what I am doing.

He is really silly and loves to play peek-a-boo!

He love, love, LOVES his big sister.

She is really sweet with him (most of the time)

and loves trying to make him laugh.

He is such a sweet boy and I love him!

He makes our family complete!

Loving the Aquarium

2008-09-27T18:09:00.006-06:00

As I have mentioned before in my posts, Josie LOVES animals.

I thought it would be fun to go see some ocean animals at the Living Planet Aquarium.

She loved it!

This was our favorite aquarium.

It is just like the reef from Finding Nemo.

Every kid that looked at it said "Look, its Nemo!"

Josie could have stared into it all day!

Charlie liked it too. He is a total pointer and points at everything.

He would point at the fish and say "Ohhhhhh...." really loud. It was really cute!

Josie wasn't into touching the stingrays, but she loved looking at them swim by.

Josie loved the jellyfish the most. You can't see them in this aquarium, but they were amazing! ...and creepy

This smile sums up the whole Aquarium experience.

Josie now loves ocean animals too!

I'm sure we will be back there soon.

One step closer to the Bunkhouse!

2008-09-22T21:46:00.006-06:00

Well today was another work day at the ranch.

Uncle Grant, lady Elaine, Whit and Charles all poured the cement for the foundation.

Uncle Grant said that Whitney was a cement mixing fool.

His dusty face proved that.

Mom is always so willing and eager to help out with anything.

She is so much fun to have around!

My goodlooking construction working husband!

I love his stinger!

It still doesn't look like much... but just wait.

Josie really loves her "gogs" and they love her.

We went for a little hike in the woods. Josie loved looking for animals.

She was really hoping we would see an elephant!

The dogs found some kind of animal under this rock.

They dug at it for hours and never got anything.

Oh well, just as well Josie would have been heartbroken if they had.

Charlie konked out as soon as we hit the bumpy road home.

He is such a sweet boy!

Scout was hoping to get some scrap's of Josie's McNuggets.
We always have so much fun at the ranch.

Stay tuned for more updates on the bunkhouse.

Surviving "Puke" hill

2008-09-21T22:50:00.010-06:00

Charles and I rode the Crest trail on Saturday with Barry and Mark.

It was a beautiful ride. It starts almost at the top of Guardmans Pass and you ride along the top of the mountains and then drop in at the top of Millcreek canyon and end up in the middle of Big Cottonwood canyon. It was a killer ride and so much fun! We had all sorts of weather... rain, sun, wind, it was cold and then hot and the Fall colors were unreal!

This is "puke" hill and Charles rallied right up it! He is amazing!

I made it up with a few stops and really felt like puking once I reached the top!

Here's the gang! Barry, Mark, me and Charles.

The scenery was totally breathtaking!

Here is an "action shot"... thanks Mark!

I had a few really great wipe outs.

Both my legs are covered in scratches and bruises.

It was all totally worth it!

Thanks guys for letting me tag along and putting up with me! I had a great time!

"Momma I want to go to the park!"

2008-09-21T22:41:00.007-06:00

Everyday, all week this is what I heard from Josie.

She, like most kids LOVES the park.

We hit 3 great parks this week.

Josie was having so much fun with her shadow!

Josie loves playing with her daddy!

Charlie laughs all day long watching Josie. He thought daddy and Josie were so funny!

This is Charlies first slide ride... and surely not his last. He loved the slide!

And the swings!

Josie loved rolling down the big hill at Sugarhouse park. I can't believe how dizzy I got, I guess I am not really a kid anymore. I loved rolling down the hill as a kid!

And feeding the stinky geese.

The park is always such a fun time! We are fortunate to have so many great ones around.

Our huge "Ranch" project

2008-09-21T22:26:00.011-06:00

The ranch is offically under construction.

It is our goal this Fall to build a "bunkhouse".

We had an Excavator up there all last weekend and started

doing stuff this weekend. We are all so EXCITED about it all!

Charlie was fasinated with the giant tractor and Josie wanted it to go away.

She was totally scared of it and it wasn't even doing anything but sitting there.

Funny girl! She kept her distance from it.

This doesn't really look like anything to anyone who hasn't

seen the ranch before. But to those of us who know

what it looked like.... this is amazing!

And it is getting even better.

The boys started digging the holes for the footings for the foundation. They rented this huge, hydraulic jack hammer and went to town digging the holes.

If any of you have ever wondered who the strongest Patten boy is...

these pictures tell it all! Andy and Charles had to lift the jack hammer

together it was so blasted heavy...

But once Whit got there he totally took over

and handled that puppy by himself!

He was a total MACHINE!

Thanks for all your MUSCLES Whitney!

Josie and Eliza always have a great time up there,

here they are in there twinner jackets!

Avynlee and Josie in one of the big 2x2 foot holes.

Charlie loved crawling around it the rocks and dirt.

Stupid Scout always badgers sweet Lucy who is Andy and Melissa's dog. I am always glad when Lucy holds her own. You would think that Scout would learn her lesson. Maybe she will after last nights fight, Lucy got her pretty good in the old eye.

Another day at the Zoo

2008-09-04T22:25:00.001-06:00

Last week we were in the car and Josie said, 'Momma, if we were an animal family, I would be a camel, you would be a dolphin, Chalrie would be a whale, Daddy would be a crab, Boo would be a polar bear and Scouty would be a ladybug. What do you think about that?" She is such a creative little girl. She makes me laugh all the time! I love the way her little brain works!

So she wanted to go back to the Zoo and see "all the animals". She especially wanted to see "the camels and then the giraffe's and then the zebras and then the camels again."

She navigated us around with her map. She carried it all over and would stop and take a look at it and say "Hmmmm... let me see... how about we go see the camels!"

I got the biggest kick out of her and her map!

The giraffe was eating and Josie couldn't believe his long, gross, black tounge.

She was mortified!

She can't wait to be big like these guys.

Here she is with her fellow camel family members.
We especially liked the camel with the "broken hump." Weird!

Of course we took the train ride. You have to when you are at the zoo.

WE LOVE THE ZOO!

Sweet Grandma Patten

2008-09-04T22:24:00.002-06:00

Here is Chalres sweet Grandma Patten.

She is 95 years old and still plugging along!

She has over a hundred grandchildren and great grandchildren.

These pictures will always be a special memory.

Labor Day Camping with the Halls

2008-09-04T21:54:00.000-06:00

We had a great Labor Day weekend

camping with the Hall family at the ranch.

Whitney and I with our big boys.

We went for an evening 4 wheeler ride and the kids loved the trailer.

Lounging Josh and the girls Lauryn, Clara and Josie.

Here is Josie and her new best friend "Clawa".

She hasn't stopped talking about her.

A little family photo op.

Charles took the girly's on a little ride.

Cute Ethan and Charlie had a great time in the Pac-n-Play.

My favorite part about camping is the camp fire.
It was so fun to hear about Lauryn's soccer adventures.

Craig was... well pretty good at movie charades. haha
We had a blast around the campfire after the kids were in bed.

Josie always has so much fun with her daddy!

Josie was so excited to sleep in a tent for the first time with her daddy. Usually we are all in the stinky old trailer.

After a good night's sleep (for those who didn't tend to the baby boys) we were all ready for breakfast. Thanks Craig for the best eggs over easy ever!

Thanks Halls for a great time camping! Let's do it again soon.

What a FUN summer!

2008-08-31T21:48:00.001-06:00

I can't believe summer is over!

We are so sad. We had so much fun!

We went to Island Park, ID and Yellowstone.

We always have so much fun with Moni and Grandpa.

Island Park is such a majestic place.

We visited our lot near Island Park Resevior.

Hopefully there will be a cabin on it someday. We love IP!

We had breakfast at our favorite place, the

Campfire Lodge right on the Madison River.

The pancakes are the size of a dinner plate. YUM!

Charles went to the Windrivers with the Andy and the Smity's.

They backpacked in and fished and froze like crazy.

We went to Nacho Libre for "Movie night" in the park.

It is seriously my favorite movie! I love Nacho!

Charlie slept and Josie was super hyper and bouncing all over the place.

We had many fun camping weekends at the "Ranch".

The "Ranch" is the Patten family property in Wanship

near Rockport resevior.

It is hot and dusty and we LOVE IT!

Summer isn't summer without at least one rodeo!

We went to the Fairview rodeo with the Pinegar's and had a blast.

We went to concerts at the Gallivan Center with Uncle Ty.

It was noisy and fun.

Charles and I had Wednesday night mountain biking dates.

This was a fun week with Andy and Melissa biking to

Dog lake up Millcreek Canyon.

Josie hurt her foot and was laid up for a couple of days.

She wanted to wear her "big bandaide" all the time,

even for weeks after her foot was better.

The kids LOVED going on bike rides.
Josie is getting better at riding her bike.

She just needs to put her head up and watch

where she is going, then she will have it.

We got a zoo pass and took advantage of it at Tracy Aviary.

Josie loves animals and birds. She has the same hair as these birds!

We tended auntie Em's dog Chloe. The kids love her,

she is such a sweet dog. Believe it or not she bullies

big Boo (all 115 lbs. of him) around. One day she had him

cornered in the bathroom and wouldn't let him come out.

I took a fabulous girls trip (with one brother) to Cali.

We had so much fun doing nothing at all. I love you

Lauren, Mom, Ty and Paula!

Summer Fun! July 6th-13th

2008-07-13T21:45:00.000-06:00

Boating with Proctors was a party! Good wakeboarding, surfing, and great food! The kids loved watching the wakeboarders and surfers! Josie was so hyper on the boat, she had such a great time hanging out with Drew. Josie gave everyone thumbs up. Thanks to the Proctors!

.
We went to the zoo and it was a riot! Josie loved the elephants and penguins the most. She was a little intimidated by the leopard. It was hot but we had a blast!

Charlie took a bath. What a stud! The kitchen sink is one of his favorite spots.

We played at Moni's house and everyone had a great time going down the waterslide. Charlie is getting closer to crawling. He loves reaching for any ball.It was fun!

A night up at the lot was sooo fun! The dutch oven food Andy and Melissa did was amazing! Thanks guys! The Peterson's came too and as the pics show it was awesome! Andy caught the only fish and we all had fun in the canoe. The dogs all swam and kept getting tangled in the fishing line. Summer nights are way too much fun!

We hiked up Millcreek. It was beautiful and a great way to beat the heat! The kids always love throwing rocks in the river.

July 4th weekend

2008-07-06T23:49:00.000-06:00

Wow, what a weekend! Thanks to everyone who came to the pool, especially those who peed in it! I think there were over 100 people swimming this weekend, and boy it was a scorcher! For those of you who were too cool to come over, we really missed you.
We enjoyed the visit from the Community Bible Church's youth group from Sacramento and their firework show. Particularly when Barny blew up Max's skateboard!! Pastor Corey is Chrissy's cousin, what a great group he leads!
The Evergreen parade was a hit as usual with lots of salt water taffy, good floats, and great company! Thanks to uncle Andy for the sweet seats in the shade.

Poor Boo is getting old, we took him up to the ranch for a few hours and he is having a tough time getting around. Because of his achy bones and muscles, and he tore the pads off his feet chasing the four wheelers. He's been licking them ever since.

Josie loves being a mermaid in the pool with her cousins, and can't get enough of all of them! She talks about them non-stop and always wants them to come over.

Charlie is getting good at floating around with his momma! He is starting to crawl and is constantly chewing on everything.