Chalk Festival

Last Friday I talked Ross and Brayden into going up to SLC to Gateway to see the Chalk Festival. It is a fundraiser of sorts for the Foster Care Foundation. People sign up for a piece of sidewalk and complete a picture of their choosing. They then judge the pictures the next day. It was amazing! I had no idea that people could put such detail into a chalk picture on the sidewalk! They also had a kid's corner where they give them some chalk and a little square of carpet to kneel on and let them draw. Brayden thought that was pretty cool, and he did a fabulous job! At the end of the drawings is the big fountain, he got soaked!!! All in all, it was fun, but next year it will definitely be a girls' outing for me and Courtney. Ross is just not big into anything that doesn't involve cars, dirt, or farting.

Favorite Pics

Here are some of my favorite pics of the kids recently, hope you enjoy!!

Parent/Kid Date Night

Ross and I decided that the kids really needed to have some sort of regular one-on-one time with each of us, so we came up with a plan. Every wednesday one of us and one of the kids goes out on a "date". We have a preset spending limit, and the child gets to choose the activity he or she wants to do (this is Brayden and I at "Monsters vs. Aliens, 3-D). I have really enjoyed getting to spend this time with the kids. We are able to connect more and I am able to hear more about how things are going with them. With my day job, homework, yard work, laundry, etc. etc. etc., sometimes it is hard to spend quality time with them. Add to that the fact that we only have them every other weekend, makes for very limited time to be able to connect with the kids. Anyway, we are having a blast creating memories with our kids.

New York!

Ross had a great idea to take a spontaneous trip to NY, just the two of us while the kids were with their other parents over the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.  We had a blast!!  We flew out on Friday on the red eye, and flew back late Monday night.  I was able to see parts of NY that I hadn't seen before, and we were able to eat some awesome food!  Since he served his mission there, he was able to show me around Brooklyn and Queens, places that aren't as tourist-y as a lot of the places in Manhattan.  We had a fabulous time, it was a great idea hunny!

Jami at Central Park

Ross in Battery Park with a view of the Statue of Liberty

Ross outside of The Plaza Hotel

He will DIE when he sees I put this on here, but it's hilarious!  We went to FAO Schwarz and this was in the Harry Potter section, it's the sorting hat!!

When our kids found out we were going to the huge toy store from the movie Big, they were so excited to see if the piano was still there.  We didn't wait in line to play on it, but took pictures for the kids.  Imagine, for only $250,000.00 you can have one of your own!

All out of Lego's!!

We were walking down the street, surrounded by buildings and all of a sudden Ross says look up, so I looked up and this is what I saw.  It was the angel Moroni on top of a building with a steeple on one corner!  It was so crazy to see that there in the middle of all these buildings.  If you didn't know what to look for, you'd miss it!

Winter Family Fun

This winter the kids have had a blast going sledding.  Ross has been taking them quite a few times and they have had so much fun.  Brayden has developed a fear of sledding down the big hills, so he usually just makes his own small hill to go on, or stays home with me.  We were all able to go sledding together as a family with my sister Lindsey and her family, and my sister Whitney a few days after christmas.  We had so much fun!  We ended up making our own hill complete with a jump and it was awesome!  

Courtney

Cade

Bridger, my nephew

Courtney

Whitney, Lauren & Ross

Britton, my nephew

Brayden, i couldn't get a picture of his face!

Lauren, Courtney, Whitney & Lindsey

Check out the air Cade got!

Brandon and Bridger

Lauren, Whitney & Lindsey

Merry Christmas!!

Ok, so I'm a little behind. First I blame the fact that my camera pooped out on me. Then i blame the fact that we didn't have internet for a little while. Now it has all caught up with me. When your husband is the one telling you that you need to update your blog, you know it's bad! Anyway, we had a really fun Christmas with all the kids. They got a lot of cool stuff, which I'm not sure they even remember exists now, and had a great time. Next year Christmas morning will be pretty quiet, as all 3 of them with be with their other parents, so I guess I won't complain about being woken up at 3am by Courtney and Caden wanting to open presents. At least we'll get to sleep in next year!!

Caden got an erector set for Christmas, look who played with it most of the day!!

Basketball Mania!

Hooray for the end of the season! All 3 kids were in basketball again this year, the boys had to join the Lehi league as Springville doesn't have a league for their age, but they had a blast. Courtney was on a team with her friend Lucee, Lucee's mom was the coach and they had a blast. Cade even had a game where he scored 10 baskets! He was sooo excited! The kids are so lucky to have so many people who love them and like coming to watch them play. They also love that Grandpa Mac (my ex-husband's dad) always gives them each a dollar at the end of their games for playing so hard, who says money can't buy love, hahaha. Good job kids!