All about Addy!!

Our little Addy turned eighteen months old on April 24th!  She has become quite the little person lately.  She has made the transition from baby to toddler.

She loves to carry her picnic basket around the house. She fills it to the brim with little treasures she finds around the house. One day she found a gift bag under my bed and carried it around the house all day.

She has begun to get into mischief.  Her favorite thing is to unload the towel drawer as many times as she can while I am busy in the kitchen.

She surprises us daily with new words she adds to her vocabulary.  She can say the names of everyone in our family.  Which is no small feat since their are seven of us.  Everyday when she is getting dressed she likes to look at her picture on the wall and shout, "ADDY!"  It is nice that she can express what she wants vocally now.  She also has begun to hold her own with Hayden.  When he is trying to take something from her she yells, "Let go!" until he stops.

 

She loves imaginary play right now.  She talks to Daddy on her play phone.  She likes to feed her baby doll a bottle. She likes to wear sunglasses and beads.  Today she tried on Halle's backpack and was walking around the house.

 

She loves being around other kids.  She made a new friend at stake conference with the little girl in front of us.  She was sharing her pretzels, toys, and following her around.  Addy loves her baby cousin Elle.  She was patting her on the head and giving her kisses in this picture.

We love our Addy!  She brings us happiness everyday! 

Hope of America...

Mckenna had her Hope of America concert on Thursday night.  It is a program put on by the fifth graders from all over Utah County. 

Mckenna had been practicing the songs for the last couple of months.  We put them on her mp3 player so she could practice at home.  It was a really good experience for her to learn all the songs.  There was one about the privilege of voting, another about The Declaration of Independence, and another based on Martin Luther Kings speech "I have a dream".

This concert couldn't have come at a better time.  I have had a lot on my mind after this weeks bombings in Boston.  I was shocked on Monday when I heard about this horrible act of terrorism.  The shooting at Sandy Hook was still so fresh in my mind.  It was hard not to be emotional seeing our American flag brought into the Marriot Center.  This concert was a uplifting reminder about all that is good in America.  I understand more than ever how important my role is as a Mother.  Our kids are the Hope of America.  I was reminded of that as I watched all three thousand of these kids sing together.  I realize how vital it is that I teach my children to put their trust in God.  I want my children to be a force for good in this world.

 

small mailman!!

The highlight of Hayden's day is getting the mail.  Anytime we are outside he runs to see if the mail has come.  He has to stand on his tip toes just to get the mail out of the box.  He always has a huge smile on his face as he brings the mail into the house.  A couple weeks ago Kev wrote a check to my Uncle for doing our taxes.  I saw the letter sitting on our desk so I went and put it in the mailbox.  A day or so later Kev finds the letter sitting on his workbench in the garage.  Hayden had found the letter in the mailbox and brought it back to the house.  We had a good laugh about this one.  Kev sent an email to my Uncle explaining why the check was so late.  My Uncle said that was the best laugh he had in a long time!

Our Spring break adventure!!

Our kids had their Spring break this last week.  When we asked them what they wanted to do they immediately replied CAMPING!!  Kev had researched some places online that we could go see.  We wanted to avoid Moab because of Jeep Safari and all the crowds.  We drove to the small town of Bluff and camped along the San Juan river.

There were some cool petroglyphs on the rock walls directly behind where we were camping. 

Addy was so happy just chilling in her chair while we set up camp!  She has grown up a lot lately and is even getting some hair.

Our first stop was to see Natural Bridges National Monument. We learned that the natural bridges are formed from erosion by water whereas, arches are formed from wind. 

The first bridge that we saw was called Sipapu.  The bridges all had Indian names.  Some of which were hard to pronounce.

Halle and Hayden were happy to see a dog out on the trail.  They are both the animal lovers in our family.  It is too bad for them that Kev and I both don't want pets ever.

Mckenna was taking a break under one of the rocks.  She is still one of our best hikers.  She was always in the lead and was happiest when she was off exploring.  Parker and Halle were always close behind.

We hiked down to Owachomo Bridge.  It was cool being able to walk under it and see it from so many different angles.

There were lizards running around everywhere.  The kids tried catching some but they were not quite fast enough.

We stopped at a picnic area for lunch.  Parker decided to eat his lunch while sitting in a tree.

 

The rest of the kids were quick to join him.  It made for a great picture of all five of our monkeys in a tree.

It wouldn't be a proper Foster campout without a visit to Lake Powell.  It was about 45 minutes out of our way but Kev talked me into it.  This was a part of Lake Powell that I had never been to before.  We went to the Halls Crossing Marina.  This was the marina where Kev's Grandpa kept his houseboat.  Kev has lots of great memories of coming here as a kid.

Our boys had a great time throwing rocks into the water.  Hayden was trying to carry one that was as heavy as he is.  It was humorous watching him throw it into the water and then running away from the splash.

The kids ate popsicles and watched the ducks swimming around the marina.

 It was a nice day and the water was really calm.  There were not too many boats out on the water.  A few were out doing some fishing. Kev still dreams of the day when we will have a boat of our own.

 

 We then drove to the Utah/Arizona border to see Monument Valley.  It was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  Here is a picture of the East and West Mitten.  We thought it was cool how they had named each butte after what it looked like.

 

 Hayden and I had our picture taken next to the Elephant butte. 

 

 One of our favorites was called "Three sisters"!  It was very fitting for our family.

 

 We had fun kicking up the red dirt in our pathfinder!  It was a 17 mile loop to see everything.

 

Halle wanted to stop and see all the horses.  They even had a horse you could climb on for a picture at the top of John Fords pointe overlook.  We didn't even look into it since there was a bus full of tourists already in line. 

We had a great time posing with all the different rock formations.  This one was called Totem Pole.

 

 We stopped by the visitor center on the way out to have a snack.  The kids had fun running around these mud houses called Hogans.

Parker peeking out the door.  You can see the sun was just beginning to set.

 

We just happened to be there at the best time of day for taking pictures.  The sun illuminated the rock formations casting a shadow of the Mitten Buttes.

 

The orange color was more vibrant with the sun shining down on them.

The next day we drove to see The Four Corners landmark.

 

The kids each wanted to have a traditional picture of being in all four states at once.

 

Our next adventure was the drive to Colorado to see Mesa Verde.  It was a long ride in the car for all of us.  We entertained our two youngest by balancing a toy on the top of Kev's head.

 

It was entertaining for me watching their little faces as they anticipated the toy falling from Dad's head.

We finally arrived at Mesa Verde.  The first thing we did was hike down switchbacks to see the Spruce Tree house.  It was the only one that was open to the public at this time of year.  It was fascinating to see these ruins just built out of rocks tucked away in the cliffside.

We even got to climb down a ladder into one of the Kiva pithouses.  They were the earliest dwellings of the Pueblos.  They had religious significance to their people.  We learned a lot by watching a movie at the visitors center.  The Puebloans first settled here in about 1200.  They lived in these rock dwellings and then climbed on top to farm and hunt.  They only inhabited them for about a century and then moved on.

We also checked out the overlook to see the Square Tower House.  It is the tallest structure in the park.

We also saw Cliff Palace from a distance.  It is huge!  It has over 150 rooms and housed around 100 people. 

 

 
 
It ended up being a fun adventure for our family.  I am glad the kids talked us into going camping.  We saw a lot in the four days we had together.

Easter!!

We had some of the cousins over earlier in the week to dye Easter eggs.  Hayden had his little face resting on the counter to see all the different colors.

This is an Easter tradition that the kids always look forward too!



It was fun too see all the different shades of eggs we got.  We have been enjoying eating the eggs all week.  We have had plain eggs, eggs on toast, and egg salad sandwiches.



Easter morning the kids were excited to look for their baskets.  The Easter bunny hid them really good this year.  Hayden found his in the oven of all places.  We took a quick picture before we went to church.

In the afternoon we went up to my Grandma Smoots house for the party.  Amy and I cooked all the food this year.  My contribution was the homemade rolls and funeral potato's.

My cousin Kate made a delicious chocolate cake for dessert.  The cake was made with coconut milk and there was fresh coconut shavings on top.

Mckenna was looking so grown up in her new Easter outfit.  I can't believe that she will be eleven in just a couple of months.

We took a picture of Grandma with all the great Grandkids that were there.  Charlie and Elle are the cute new additions since last year.

Amy took this picture of me with my sweet little Addy.  She is wearing the same dress that Halle did at her age.  We just passed the Easter dresses on down for this year.

My cute cousin Emily and the kids.  It is always fun having her there at all the parties.  She and my cousin Anna are both graduating from BYU with their bachelor degrees this December.

It was perfect weather for our egg hunt! Here is a picture of Mckenna in action. 

It was fun watching Addy gather eggs this year.  She insisted on carrying her own basket which was as big as her!

There were lots of eggs to find this year.  Mike was showing the kids some that hadn't been found yet.  It was quite the site seeing all the kids chase him.

Hayden was so happy with all the eggs he got.  He told me, "look at all my Easter's Mom!!"

We took a picture of our family all dressed up for the occasion.

Kev helping Hayden get out his candy.  My Grandma bought some "Darth Vader" shaped eggs this year.  They were a big hit with the boys.

A lady just happened to walk by the park with her pet Cockatoo.  She brought it over to give the kids a closer look. They thought that was the best thing ever.  My cousin Scott cracked us up with his "pretty bird" comment.  He was quoting the movie dumb and dumber.  It was kind of sad that I knew that one.

Parker getting hugs from his Great Grandma.  It was the perfect way to end a wonderful day!