Polar Bear Swim 2008

This past Saturday we officially opened our pool for the summer. The water was quite cold. Scottie and I stayed dry this year because we are both getting over yucky colds. I was glad to have an excuse though. I like the pool when it hits about 90 degrees.

Brycen looks ready for deep sea diving.

Yes, that water is COLD!

Daddy thinking about going in.

Zac decides his dad needs some encouragement

Zac and Lance squirting eachother.

Even Sebastain got a little wet.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

Brycen searches for eggs


Easter was a beautiful day for flying a kite.

Scotttie relaxing on the grass


Daddy and Zac head down to the pond.

Zac and Auntie Ali just chatting.

Lots of cousin love.

Scottie stops to pose.

Oregon or Bust

We spent the past weekend visiting some friends from high school that now live in Oregon. Their entire family has relocated to Oregon so all 12 of the cousins ranging in age from 5 months to 11 years old play together all the time. Our boys loved being part of the group. Zac loved helping all the little ones while Brycen enjoyed being spoiled by the older kids, and Scott just like getting attention from everyone.

Brycen thought it was great to have Josh for a "big brother." The two of them spent the whole weekended together.

Zac cheers up little Mary by finding her a dolly.

Scottie found a cozy napping spot at the discovery museum.

Even grown-ups like to play with mega sized legos. Brycen and Benjamin enjoyed knocking our house down just like the big bad wolf.

Brycen and Benjamin discuss what the will built next.

Brycen's bill came to $555,555--talk about inflation!

Brycen and Ashton having a swinging time.

Zac has unique swinging style.

Take Us Out to the Ball Game!

On Saturday we took Zachary, Brycen, and my dad to watch the BYU baseball team play UC Davis--BYU won. It was a beautiful sunny day; baseball and sunshine two wonderful things about Spring. I was a little uncomfortable with us all wearing our BYU shirts on the UC Davis campus, but I soon realized we were in good company. There were more BYU fans than UC Davis fans.

What a cutie, okay I know I'm biased, but he really is handsome.

Zac and Grandpa loved the fact that the batters could hear them cheering for them. I think the players liked it too.

Brycen borrowed Daddy's hat to keep the sun out of his eyes. He lots interested in the game, but enjoyed playing with his VW Bus that his daddy just brought home from a business trip in Las Vegas.

All the fun in the sun wore Brycen and Grandpa out--nighty night!

Will take that one!

Yesterday some friends came over who adopted a baby girl about 8 months ago. I explained to our boys that she was adopted and that her family had prayed very hard for her. After about twenty minutes Zac turned to my friend and said, "Kate yes we want to adopt your baby!"








These pictures were taking at my nephews 8th birthday. Our kids just love to get together with their cousins. it is very sweet to watch them build such wonderful and loving relationships with each other.



Brycen is ready for summer. Just a few more months before we can go jet skiing for real.






Hannah (our niece) and Brycen playing air hockey. Brycen has a computer version of air hockey. He was thrilled to discover real air hockey.






Zac is always the first one ready for cake.



Scottie loves bath time. He tries to submerge himself as much as possible in the water. He would stay all day if he could. He will be thrilled in a few more weeks when we can start to use our swimming pool again.

True Love at 3:00am

The fun pictures on this blog I hope let you catch of glimpse of what our family is like. Right now however, I would like to share the love in our home with you from a very different angle. That is love that is displayed when our children get sick. The other night Zachary woke Lance up to announce that he had thrown up in his bed. Lance let me sleep and went to help Zac. Moments latter Zac woke me up and said "Dad needs your help, I threw up." Ignoring any instincts of self-preservation I tucked Zac into our bed, knowing full well this act could get us sick and went to help Lance. As I changed Zac's sheets and blankets, I looked over to watch Lance shampoo the brand new carpet and I had to smile. Here it was 3am and we were working side-by-side happily cleaning a rather disgusting mess and I realized that this is what love is all about. We got Zac tucked back into his own bed and just as we turned towards our own bedroom Brycen's walked out of his room and informed us that he too had thrown up. I helped him into clean pajamas and then carried him into our bed. I snuggled with him for a moment and then went to change yet another bed while Lance tackled another carpet. By the time his room was clean Brycen was fast asleep in our bed. I thought about just letting him staying, but then knowing that our night was probably going to be very busy, and that we would need as much sleep as possible and also knowing that Brycen likes to sleep sideways in bed, I opted to carry him back to his bed, while Lance snuggled with Zac who was having a hard time going back to sleep.

Of course I realize that all parents have to clean-up after sick children from time to time, still a couple things were made even more clear to me that night. First, to know that Lance loves me so much that he was willing it let me sleep while he handled the clean-up process--despite the fact that he was the one who would have to wake-up to go to work in just a few short hours. I also thought it was very sweet that Zac realized his dad could use some help. Lastly, I felt blessed that at moments like this Lance and I feel nothing but love and concern for our children and for each other. This was just a small and relatively insignificant reminder that we truly would gladly do anything in the world for our family.

By the way everyone is feeling much better know. So far Scottie, Lance and I have even managed to stay healthy. And yes, the carpets still look new. I hope that all this talk about the flu has not made you feel queasy!

Our New Hobby

The webkinz craze has hit our home in a big way! Zac and Brycen got their first pets for Christmas, and now they each have four. Lance thinks it is funny that the kids play so much with their online pets while poor old Sebastian just lies around waiting for someone to throw his tennis ball or even bathe him.

By the way, for those of you who do not know about Webkinz they are little stuffed animals that come with a code for their website. The website is a whole new world. You can buy your pets everything from clothes to furniture to seed to garden with, even golf cart for them to ride around in. The boys pets have a working pool table, air hockey game, and battleship. The pets come with one room, but you can buy more. Brycen loves to buy rooms I think their house has 19 rooms now. To get money you have to play games, answer triva questions, or get a job.

Okay, now for the really funny part, my sister and I each bought ourselves one yesterday too. I now have a racoon name Shay Honor and Ali has a Love Frog named Lady.

Starting in the back row: Snowprincess (Brycen), Sushi (Zac), Blitzen (Zac)

Middle row: Snow (Brycen), Snow Angel (Brycen's 1st), Sparky (Zac), Shay Honor (mine)

Smoden (Zac's 1st), Front row: Ice (Brycen) Notice a theme in Brycen's names?

Zac and Ali's dog Lieca hang out on an old sheet on my bed while the rest of us take care of our virtual pets. And no I do not let animals on our bed, but Lieca thinks she is a person!