Reagan's Kindergaten Program and Graduation

Kindergarten Program

Reagan was so excited for her Kindergarten program and graduation. When we talked about what she was going to be wearing she informed me that she had already decided that she would be wearing Amilia's red dress. I hadn't ever seen Amilia's red dress before and decided that I had better go take a look at it. I went over to Amilia's house and she knew exactly what dress I was talking about. Her and Reagan had planned this together. She came running down the stairs with the dress in hand proud to show me the beautiful red dress Reagan was going to wear to the graduation. It was a RED WITCH COSTUME! Silky with sequence and a jagged cut edge around the bottom and around the arms. My first thought was that there was NO WAY Reagan was going to wear a costume to her program. Amelia's mom tried to convince me that it would be cute and that I should let her wear it. I decided that I would take the costume home and tell Reagan that she could wear it if she wanted to but let her know that it was a COSTUME and the NOBODY in the entire kindergarten would be coming dressed in a COSTUME! Surly this would do the trick! However, unfortunately it turns out the Reagan is just fine with wearing a halloween costume to her graduation program and doesn't even seem to mind that she will be the ONLY ONE wearing a costume! I was a little surprised by this but thought it would be fine as long as she wore her cute black church shoes and black flower in her hair to match. When I told her this she freaked out! She wanted to wear her brown winter boots with the sparkly witch costume. Well I'm but that's where I draw the line! It's one thing to wear a witch costume to school with cute shoes and cute hair and something entirely different to go to school looking like you don't have a mother who loves you enough to stop you from looking like a dork! I hope this isn't offensive to anybody but I only have 1 little girl and gosh dang it, I want her to be cute!

Anyways, you can see by the pictures that Reagan didn't end up wearing the witch costume. As she threw her major tantrum I went up to her bedroom and picked out a cute school outfit. Something not to fancy yet not to plain. I came back down stairs and ironed it all while Reagan threw a fit at my feet. When I got done ironing I told Reagan that if she quickly got changed into this freshly ironed school outfit she would receive a laffy taffy. She questioned whether she would be receiving it now or later and as soon as I said "now" she threw the witch costume off, threw the school outfit on and got her hair done in a matter of seconds. The power of the laffy taffy is a mysterious thing!

And off to the program we went.
The sang cute songs giving it their all.

Reagan had a speaking part where she said, "Isn't it cool that we go to Freedom Elementary and that our flag stands for freedom?" She did a really good job!

The program was adorable and couldn't have been cuter!

Kindergarten Graduation

After the program we headed to Reagan's classroom for a little graduation ceremony. Mrs. Barns played cute graduation music and called each of her students up one at a time shaking their hands and giving them a little graduation certificate.

What a cute little girl!
Reagan is so excited to be moving on the the 1st grade!
All day school, eating lunch in the cafeteria, and Aunt Shari for a teacher!
It just doesn't get much better than that!

After each kid "graduated", Mrs. Barns told us how much she enjoyed teaching our children. She teared up and everything! It was actually quite touching. Mrs. Barns was a great teacher and Reagan absolutely loved her! We couldn't have asked for a better kindergarten year!

Congratulations Reagan!
We love you so much!

Training update.

It occurred to me the other day that I am VERY out of shape! Now this may sound kind of funny coming from someone who just ran 8 miles, but I think it was the 8 mile run that made me realize this small and simple fact!

The thought of going out and running 3 miles is simply no big deal to me. The thought of running 4 doesn't sound as fun but still not that big of a deal. Running 5 starts to sound a little intimidating and then anything past that I tend to get a little nervous about.

So as I said before, my 7 mile run just about killed me and so I was pretty nervous about going 8. Last Thursday morning (the day after my birthday) at 5:30 Amy and I ran 8 miles! I lived through it without dying or without quitting but I can't say that I didn't want to.

I know there are lots of things I need to learn about running. I'm sure that there are tricks about hydrating that would probably help me out tremendously. I'm sure that eating birthday cake the night before a big run is probably not the kind of carb loading I've heard people talk about. I'm sure that I'm doing everything wrong when it comes to training for a half marathon, and I can also assure you that my body is feeling it and hating it, but unfortunately I don't really have a clue to what I'm actually doing. All I know for sure is that I AM TRYING TO SURVIVE!

The first 3 miles of our run was just about more than I could handle. My breathing was out of control and I wanted to quit so bad! I couldn't believe how crappy I felt. Some of the hills we ran were totally kicking my butt. These were the same hills I trained on last summer and as I thought back at the difference I felt last summer to now, I realized I am no where close to the shape I was in last summer! As I huffed and puffed I couldn't help but to question my ability to actually run a half marathon. If the first 3 miles of an 8 mile run was going to kill me, how in the heck would I ever go further? I continued on and thanks to Amy and the running water bottle she gave to me as a birthday present, and her upbeat positive attitude, somehow I made it past my breaking point and it all became doable! We completed our run in just over an hour and a half. I felt good! I felt accomplished! I even had energy!

Thank you Amy for being my running buddy! You don't know how grateful I am for your help! At the end of each of our long runs I feel as though I could cry tears of gratitude. Thank you!

What will this kid do next?

Talan in my opinion is more than just your typical 2 year old boy. This boy is like a 2 year old boy on steroids! He is extremely coordinated for his age, extremely bright, and extremely mischievous! Yes I'm sure that you're thinking that I think this just because I'm his mother, but I swear to you this kid is different! He is by far the most active 2 year old I've had and my other children were pretty darn active! Talan is one of those kids that you have to keep your eyes on all the time. He can climb, open and get into almost anything!

The other day we came home from somewhere and I had to go to the bathroom really bad. Talan didn't want to come in the house so I closed the garage door so he couldn't escape. He was not happy about this! I quickly ran in the house and went to the bathroom. Usually when I do this he follows me into the house to tell me off. By the time I was finished going to the bathroom he hadn't come in yet. I went back out to the garage and I couldn't believe what I saw. He was standing in the driveway with the garage door wide open! He looked at me with a face as to say, "HA!" Oh my gosh that little stink! "Talan, how did you get the garage door open?" He gave me his best innocent look and then tried to change the subject. "Look mom!" "Talan, how did you get the garage door open?" "Okay fine! I'll shut the garage door and just sit here and watch you until you do it again." I shut the garage door, Talan threw himself upon the floor in a full 2 year old fit, and I sat back to watch. Pretty soon he walked around to the drivers side door of the Yukon, grabbed onto the door handle and climbed onto the side rail. He swayed back and forth pulling on the door with every sway until finally he got the door to open. He then reached down to the bottom of the door with his one hand while still holding onto the door handle with the other. Once he had a hold of the bottom of the door with his fingertips, he let go of the door handle and jumped to the ground all while holding the door open with his fingers. He then grabbed the side of the door and using all of his body strength he pushed the door all the way open. He looked at me and smiled and then climbed up into the truck. All the while I'm thinking, "Are you kidding me?" He then reached over and pushed the garage opener button inside the truck. Tell me, what 2 year old does this kind of stuff?

The other night all the kids were ready for bed and we were gathering everyone together for family prayer. David must have heard something because in a panicked voice he all of a sudden said, "Where's Talan?" Due to Talan's track record of getting into things I immediatly jumped to my feet and intently listened. I could here his faint cry in the distance. I couldn't tell where it was coming from. I followed it and then realized it was coming from the garage. I ran out into the garage to find him sitting on the 3rd shelf up of the garage shelving where we keep the dog biscuits. He was scrunched in there with his head folded into his lap. (The shelves aren't very tall.) I couldn't figure how he could have gotten up there. Then I noticed a garbage can tipped over on it's side. He must have used it to climb up and then it must have slipped out from under him. He was clenching a dog biscuit in each of his fists. Apparently he wanted to feed the dog a treat! I swear this kid is a handful! I never know what he's going to think to do next.

On Mother's day my neighbor Kendall and her daughter Michelle were home just the 2 of them alone in their basement. While they were down there their outside dog came running down the stairs. They thought, "Who let the dog inside?" They could hear someone walking around upstairs in their kitchen. Kendall called out, "Hello, anybody there?" Nobody answered. Michelle climbed up the stairs and could see a shadow of a person walking around. She ran back down stairs. They were so scared and rightfully so! There have been a lot of break ins in our neighborhood and they weren't sure what to think except for they knew that someone was in their house walking around and not responding to their call. They went out the basement door and up and out and around the house to the garage. Kendall said that she thought to herself that if her other daughters car wasn't parked in the driveway she was going to freak! Sure enough her other daughters car wasn't there. They stood there in the garage trying to decide what to do when all of a sudden the door from the house to the garage opened. Out peeked little 2 year old Talan! Oh my gosh! Seriously! I ask myself, "What will this kid do next?"

Some other fun things
Talan has done this week....

Talan has somehow managed to take a picture off his bedroom wall, drop it on the ground and break the frame. All while he was suppose to be taking a nap! I'm just glad that the glass didn't break along with the frame because that could have been a lot worst.

Talan learned how to work the foam soap dispenser. Not that he didn't really already know how to work it, he just hadn't displayed his new found talent in such a dramatic way until now. He literally splattered soap all over the bathroom. Mirrors, walls, counter tops and floor. Oh and did I forget to mention the soap covering his face and eyeballs? Yes, that was a bit of a painful lesson about soap for the poor little guy!

Talan sprayed himself in the face with an arisol hairspray can.

Talan dumped an entire box of cereal on the couch.

Talan learned that if he hits his sister with a bat, lacrosse stick, sword or similar like object she screams, runs and absolutely freaks out! This is something he enjoys seeing and so now he looks for things he could use to hit her with.

Now I don't want you to get the wrong idea about Talan. He's not all mischievous and naughty! He is a lot of fun and very sweet too. He loves to give hugs and kisses and he loves to cuddle. We love him very much! Everyday just turns into an adventure with our little Talan!

Training...

For some unknown real reason I have a desire to run a marathon in my lifetime.
Am I a runner? No! I wouldn't call myself that. But I am a bit of a wannabe runner!
Last year I ran in a 5K and when I got done running I decided that I wanted to run in a 10K.
I ran in a 10K and then decided I wanted to run in a half marathon.
I registered for a half marathon and then couldn't complete my training due to injuries.
This year it's my plan to start with a half marathon first.
I registered for the June 12th Bear Lake half marathon with my friend Amy and then...
We began to train!
Training for a half marathon is hard!
Today I am sick. I don't know if it's a cold or just allergies, but I sorta feel like crap!
But my training must go on!
I can't afford to get behind schedule.
So run I must, and run I did!
Up until today the longest I had ever ran all at once was a 10K. (That's 6.2 miles)
Today I ran 7 miles!
Never could I have completed all 7 miles without a good friend right beside me cheering me on telling me that I could do it.
By the end of our run I thought I might possibly die, but I didn't.
I thought I might possibly pass out, but I didn't.
I thought how can I possibly run further than 7?
And I will!
Next week I will run 8!
Wish me luck, because I'm truly terrified!

Colorado Rockies Baseball 2010

BRADON and CARSTEN
are both playing on the minor league Colorado Rockies team this year.

Carsten is playing as an elite 8 year old. This is the only year that Carsten will be able to play up to be on the same team with Bradon. It's fun having them both play on the same team and a lot less driving around trying to get everybody where they need to be. We are going to really enjoy this while it lasts!

I took a few pictures at one of the last games they played. I thought that this one turned out pretty cool of Bradon. I don't think he actually connected on this pitch but the picture was still cool.

He did connect on this one... He had a great hit!
Bradon has had a really good season at bat this year. He nearly always gets on base.

This years team is learning to be really aggressive at base running. In this league base running is key! The pitchers aren't that consistent yet and so lots of batters get walked. The more aggressive base running team seems to win!

David was keeping score. In this particular game Bradon had something to do with all the runs scored. He either had RBI's or scored himself. David pulled Bradon aside to show him the score book. Bradon was proud of himself and so were we!

Carsten is one of the smallest kids on the team. His strike zone is pretty small and he tends to be walked a lot! One thing this kid does have is SPEED! He's a great base runner! At the beginning of the year they were really wanting Carsten to take the walk to get on base. Now they have moved him up in the batting order and given him the okay to swing away.

He fouled this pitch off. Had he gotten a hold of it he would have probably been on second!

Way inside! Carsten had to really duck out of the way to avoid being hit. See it up at his shoulder.

4 balls... Take your base!

And he comes in home! I'm telling you, Carsten is quick! He must have gotten his speed from David because I'm positive he didn't get it from me! This last game he rounded 3rd and headed home while the coach was telling him to hold up. Once the coach noticed that Carsten wasn't stopping he changed his mind and told Carsten to book it home! We all laughed and then the coach told the other boys that they needed to be a little more aggressive at base running like Carsten. Of course had he been called out at home it wouldn't have been so funny!

And the Rockies win again!
So far they are 6-0. They are undefeated!

After the game Coach Hancock sat the boys down and gave them a little pep talk telling them how proud he was of them. There just isn't anything more fun than playing for a winning team!
Go Rockies!

Reagan's birthday day!

Reagan had the most fabulous birthday!

She woke up to 4 phone calls in a row wishing her a happy day. If there is one thing this girl loves, it's a phone call. Thanks Grandma Haws, Aunt Cheryl, Dad, and Aunt Shari Iverson. You made her birthday morning as special as could be. She was beaming with joy from the inside out!

Bradon made Reagan scrambled eggs for breakfast and all the boys tried their best to be super nice to Reagan on her special day... and she noticed! She got her birthday present from the family and couldn't have been happier to finally have her very own Jessie doll from Toy Story.

We went on our morning drink run and Reagan got to pick out a special birthday treat. She picked out a 6 pack of little soda cans filled with fizzy candy. She also got to share a fountain drink with her little brother.

We went home and got ready for the day. We picked up her little friend Olivia and Olivia's mom and went to McDonald's. Reagan got to get a Happy Meal that had a little barbie toy inside. Happy Meal's aren't something we get everyday around here and it was a special treat! Then we went to the Nail Spa and Reagan and Olivia had their finger nails painted. It was so much fun watching the girl decide on a color. Reagan knew exactly what she wanted. Sparkle nail polish with a pink flower. Our nail technician told Reagan that It would be better to have a solid background color so Reagan decided to use the pink as her background and the sparkle for the middle of the flower. It turned out really cute!

At School Reagan got to pass out her most favorite Laffy Taffy treat to all the kids in her class.

After school she got another phone call from Grandma Adair and then got to play in a baseball game where she flirted with one of the boys on her team the entire game. Not to mention she had some fabulous hard hits at the plate!

For dinner Reagan got to go to Winger's with David and I. It was her special dinner date with Mom and Dad! She told us how wonderful her birthday was and how excited she was to be 6!

Happy Birthday Reagan!
We Love You!

Happy Birthday Reagan!

T his year we celebrated Reagan's birthday a few days early. Her party was May 3rd but her birthday isn't until May 5th. I gave Reagan the choice of having her birthday 2 days early or 2 days late due to our hectic baseball schedule. And of course, what 6 year old is going to want to wait any longer than they have to? So 2 days early it was!

In our home we start thinking and talking about what we are going to do for our birthday months before the actual day arrives. We love to throw a themed party, and when I say "we", I mean ME!

Reagan decided months ago that she was going to have a bowling party. When Carsten turned 6 years old he had a bowling party and got a really cool bowling pin to take home. Reagan really wants a bowling pin of her very own that she can take home!

Just over a week ago we walked into the dollar store. The front display was filled with Hawaiian party stuff. Reagan's eyes lit up and it was then and there that she changed her mind and her party theme turned to HULA! It was also then and there that David and I began to smile as we saw less money leaving our wallets!

I decorated a cake...

We got hula skirts, lei's, and hair flowers for the girls. We picked up some fancy cups and umbrella straws for our fancy umbrella drinks, and some party balloons for decor. We were all set for a HULA party! Except... I had no idea what we were going to do at our HULA party! I could teach the girls how to hula... but I myself don't know how to hula! Then I had an idea! I could have some hula girls come to the party to hula. They could hula and then teach the girls how to hula. Wouldn't that be fun?

I googled 'hula dancers in Utah', I called the first number I saw out of Lehi, Utah. I explained to the lady on the phone that I was throwing a birthday party for a 6 year old and wanted a hula dancer to come to her party for 30 minutes to demonstrate and then teach the girls a little hula. She told me that it would cost $150.00 to have a hula dancer come to my home for 30 minutes! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? REALLY! I told her that that was out of my price range and that I would make a few other phone calls. She then told me that she could make a phone call to her dancer and see if she would do it for $100.00 instead. STILL WAY OUT OF MY PRICE RANGE! She asked me what my price range was and I told her, "I don't know but it's not that!"

I remembered going to my good friends 30th birthday party and they had hula dancers put on a whole huge show. When I went to Carsten's football practice a day or two later I realized that the guy that M.C.'ed the party was one of the coaches. His wife and I use to sit and talk during practices and games. I thought if some how I could get a hold of her she would probably help me out.

I called my friend Keri who had had the 30th birthday party. She called her cousin who had planned the 30th birthday party. Keri called me back to say that her cousin got the number from The Bamboo Hut. I called The Bamboo Hut. Only the manager knew the number and he wouldn't be in until the next day. I called the next day. He didn't know the number but thought that his partner might. I called his partner. The partner had her number! I then called Maria Fano.
And she could help!
Maria teaches hula lessons and called a few of her students to see if they would be interested in the job. 3 adorable Jr. High age girls came to Reagan's birthday party to HULA for 10 bucks each! And Maria came too! It couldn't have been more perfect!

This is Maria and 3 of her cute hula students!

Reagan and all of her friends were in absolute aw! They were quiet as could be as they watched the girls preform.

The hula girls did a great job!

After we watched a little hula, the girls learned a little hula.

A little hula about a surfer. It was cute and the girls loved it!

Then we took pictures with the hula dancers.
Too cute! It was like getting your picture taken with a star!

We sang Happy Birthday....

Reagan blew out her candles....

And then the girls partied like
HULA DANCERS!

Reagan loved her fancy cup and cool refreshing umbrella drink!

Then it was present time! Reagan opened her presents...

Giving each of her friends a special birthday hug after opening the present they brought for her. This was one of my favorite parts of the whole party! Even the shiest of girls, when it came to their turn to be hugged, they jumped right up and hugged her. Way cute!

Happy Birthday Reagan!
We love you so much and couldn't have asked for a better girl!

Pinewood Derby 2010

My new calling at church is... Cub Master!
This month was our pinewood derby. Bradon and Carsten had a baseball game and so they weren't able to go, but they built their cars anyways and had other boys in the pack race em for them.

This was Carsten's first ever pinewood derby. He decided on the pencil car design. It turned out really cute! It didn't turn out being the fastest car but it did really quite well! 2 boys from his den took 1st and 2nd place for the whole pack.

All the boys got these cool stands to display their cars on at home and these cool wooden awards. Carsten received the "Best Use Of Imagination" Award.

Bradon went with the USA bobsled design. His entire car was built the night before the race. His car did better this year than any other year. He got 3rd place in his den!

Bradon received the "Most Souped Up" Award. The weights we ended up using kind of looked like an engine I guess. If you really use your imagination I think they look more like 4 bobsledders, but we'll take "Souped up!"

A special thank you goes to Jeremy Haws for cutting out the boys cars for them, and Heidi Payne for cutting out the vinyl lettering for the stands. What would I do without awesome cousins that help me out! Thanks guys, You're the best and I love ya!

Porcupine art...

Carsten had to make a Porcupine sculpture for class the other day. We had talked about what he wanted to do and how he wanted to make it a few weeks ago and then I sorta forgot about it. The night before it was due at about 9:00 at night after I had already gotten ready for bed Carsten remembered that he needed to have his sculpture by morning. Isn't this always how it seems to work out?
Luckily I remembered that I had some Crayola Model Magic that hadn't been used yet. I got it out and it was almost completely dried out. I worked with it for a while and then decided that it would just have to do. Carsten broke toothpicks in half and we together created Mr. Porcupine! We went out into the garage and found some black spray paint and gave it a tint of black to finish it off.
Mr. Porcupine took us all but about 30 minutes to create and Carsten couldn't have been happier with it! He said that his teacher loved it and even showed it to the Principle of the school.
Way to go Carsten!
AWESOME SCULPTING!

Reagan plays baseball

Reagan is so excited to play baseball. She has been wanting to play for several years now. It's hard having to sit on the sidelines watching as all your brothers get to play all the cool sports! But finally Reagan is old enough to play!

She is on the THUNDER!
Bradon played on Thunder a few years ago and so Reagan is excited to follow in her big brothers footsteps!
She's on a team of all boys! At her first practice the coach had her bat first. You should have seen the look of surprise on his face when she hit the ball. This girl's a hitter!

After practice I asked if it bothered her that she was the only girl on the team. Nope! She doesn't care. All boys is just fine with her! Within just a few days of baseball starting a little boy named J.R. from her class at school started calling her on the phone about a dozen times a day. J.R. just so happens to be on Reagan's baseball team and Reagan just so happened to give him her phone number so that he could call her. Nope, she doesn't mind being the only girl on the team!

I don't know if it's because she's the only girl or what, but the coach always put her in the prime location on the field. She had a good time fielding the balls.

Throwing it to first base....

Oops, her hat blew off!

Such a cute little girl!

In coach pitch baseball they don't keep track of outs and all the kids get to bat every inning. The last batter of the inning gets to run all the bases like a home run. Reagan got to be the home run hitter and she flew around the bases! She even caught up with all the other runners by the time she hit 3rd base!
That's our girl! Way to go Reagan!