Gymnastics State Championship & lots of family fun

Nic had another gymnastics competition in Heber City this weekend which gave us the opportunity for a much needed (but short) break. Sorry this is a little long, but I really didn't want to leave anything out...We started out on Friday morning and headed to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. This was pretty fun, kind of pricey and extremely crowded but the kids liked it. We saw sharks, jellyfish, octopus, spiders, frogs and even got to touch a sting ray. Here are a few pics of the aquarium...

On Saturday, Nic had his competition and he did awesome!! We were so proud of him. He got 1st again on the Tramp, 3rd on the Double-Mini and 7th on the Floor. Tramp is definately his strong event. He was so excited. Grandma Swendsen came to support Nic too. She's always so awesome to come and support my kids in anything they do. She stayed one night with us too-thanks dad, for letting her :) Ty and Josh were so good. Considering that we sat in bleecher chairs for almost 6 1/2 hours, they were absolute angels. They were cheering on their brother too. Here are some pics of him getting awards-the one I took of his 7th place award was blury so I'm not posting that one. If I can manage, I may even throw in a video of his winning Tramp routine.

1st place on Trampoline

3rd place on Double-Mini

After the competition we went and saw a crater called the Homestead Crater that is right across the road from where we were staying. It's a HUGE crater that is filled with water. The water is a toasty 97 degrees year-round and it's 65 feet deep. You can go inside the crater and scuba dive, snorkle, swim or just take a quick tour. The boys were way nervous inside, so it's probably good that we didn't go there to swim. We climbed to the top too. It was way cool, there were actually craters all over the place up there but this was the biggest one we saw.

We then went back to the condo and swam. The boys had a ball, swimming is always the highlight of any trip we take. Josh is absolutely fearless! When we very first got there, we were standing by the side of the pool getting our towels and things put away and we turned our back for 1 second. Josh immediately jumped right into the deep end of the pool. He went under the water but luckily already had his lifejacket on so he popped right up. Tim fished him out, gave him a hug and he was off. His legs didn't stop kicking for the entire time. He's a little fish.

Our next stop, the Utah Summer Games in June. I can hardly wait!! This has given our family the opportunity to have mini vacations it isn't something that we can really afford, but the memories that we're making are priceless!!

SMILE!!??

So we kind of toned down Easter Saturday this year...we didn't hit the Franklin Egg hunt. Instead, I took the boys to the lame, but extremely easy bunny trail of Lee's Marketplace. Yeah I know, kind of a cop out. But the boys were happy with their goodies and it was a lot easier on me since Tim was working.
Then we went to McDonald's with my two sister-in-laws and their families so the boys had a blast playing with their cousins. It was great to just relax and chat with my cute sisters-in-law. Love them both!
We then ventured up to Mack Park in Smithfield, just to let the boys play. I happened to have my camera and figured since I hadn't taken any pics all day, I had better try to get some there. They weren't dressed for pics, and Ty's hair was a mess and he still had ketchup on his face from McDonald's, but I figured it was worth a try.
So here's a riddle....how many pictures does it take to make three little busy boys smile all at the same time???? 10, 20, 30? No try 50 pictures before I even had any that I was happy with. It got to the point were Ty would grab Josh's cheeks and MAKE HIM SMILE. Which of course, he didn't like. Anyways, here a few pics that I took of the boys.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter!!

I'm 25....again ;)

I had my first appointment yesterday...I love the first appointment, it makes everything finally seem real. Tim and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat and I also got to have an ultrasound. I'm almost 12 weeks and so the ultrasound pictures actually look like a baby and not a little blob(sorry, no scanner or else I would post a pic). Anyways, everything looks great so far. As mentioned in my post before, I feel great!
It was also my birthday yesterday. I turned 25. Isn't that great!! I think I'll be 25 for the next 10 years. It was a great day. The Dr. Appt., lunch with my hubby, new haircut and highlights, a movie, and home early enough to spend some time with my fam.
Even though I usually say birthdays stink when you get older and don't really seem like a big deal, it was a great day. My husband spoiled me and I have great parents and friends who made me feel special too. Thanks to my cute friends who called to wish me happy b-day!

Fathers & Babies - I mean Fathers are such babies :)

This is so stinkin' funny!! I had to add this to my blog because it made me laugh so hard. Looking for a good laugh? Watch this!

"Spring" break...yeah right!! + updates

-K- so I'm going to complain...I'm sick of snow, sick of cold, sick of ice, sick of mud, sick of being stuck in the house....Ahhh!!! I am so sad that spring break means 5+ inches of snow on the ground and little kids that have to be stuck in the house. How sad is that!! I have daycare kids every day this week and I so wish that I could take them all to do something fun, like play at the park or something. But that's near impossible when there is SNOW EVERYWHERE! Sorry, I'm just a little frustrated.

Just a couple updates:

Tyler did his Kindergarten screening last week and he did an awesome job!! He got 96 out of 100. He was so proud of himself. The funny thing is that 3 of the 4 questions that he got wrong he totally knew but the way it was asked by the lady doing the screening confused him. So he would have gotten 99 out of 100. He is so smart. I'm afraid that he will be bored in Kindergarten and that he will be disruptive. Everyone knows how busy Ty is and how he just likes to have fun. Hopefully he'll have a great teacher that will really challenge him. I'm going to miss him being in my Preschool class. It's always so much fun to teach when your own child is in the class. My little boy is growing up. How sad....

Josh is doing great with potty training. He has started going on the big potty and is so proud of himself. He's such a fun happy kid. I enjoy him so much!

Nic had a gymnastics competition on Saturday and he did really well. He took 7th on the floor (which I think he got robbed-I thought that he'd at least get 5th...but he was happy with it-we try not to make comments like that around him, I don't want him to have bad sportsmanship.)

He took 3rd on the Double-mini Yeah!! And he took 1st place on the Tramp!!!! Yep 1st!! We were so excited for him. I actually missed the medal ceremony which was a very depressing thing. It doesn't help that I'm pregnant because I totally started to cry when I realized I missed it. I got impatient while waiting for him to come into the awards area and after 25 minutes went looking to make sure everything was OK. We crossed paths and I totally missed it. I was so sad. But, at least Tim was there to clap for him We were so proud of him!! He loves gymnastics and is doing a great job. He's made some cute little friends at the competitions and I think it's really helped his confidence. Here's a couple pics of him with his medals.

As for me, I am feeling great (pregnancy wise). I'm a little tired and have had a lot of headaches, but besides that, I can't complain. I really enjoy being pregnant. My first appointment is on Friday, I will be almost 12 weeks. I'm way excited to hear that little heartbeat, I hope they do an ultrasound, but I don't know for sure if they will. The boys have been so excited about the baby. Every Sunday we look in my Pregnancy book to see how big the baby is and what it looks like. Their comments have been so cute (It has a tail??) (Why are it's ears so small??). Nic bore his testimony in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and was saying that he was glad that he has brothers and a sister.....a sign?? I doubt it, but it was cute. I'll write more after the Dr. Appt.

So, I hope you all are having a fabulous "spring" break. And that you get to go somewhere where there is sunshine and the temperature is over 40 degrees.

The potty plunge

What would you do to have your 3+ year old potty trained? Suckers, chocolate, toys, prizes, new special undies...the list goes on and as lengthy as this list sounds, it did no good!! But today, we reached a milestone. Josh has wanted some easter shaped marshmallows that I bought a few days ago and I have been holding them over his head as a bribe to get him to finally take the potty plunge. But to no avail. Finally today, he was begging for a treat and I again reminded him, if you'll go potty, I'll let you have lots of marshmallows. So what did he do? As I was busy with other kids, he proceeded into the bathroom, took off his clothes and diaper, sat down on the potty and went!!!!! Hallelujah!!! I wanted to jump up and down and do the potty dance (don't ask me to demonstrate, you'd never look at me the same). Needless to say, he had a handful of marshmallows and got to put on his new soccer ball undies. Yeah!! My baby is growing up, I don't know whether to jump for joy or cry. Ah, the joy of potty training. Let the fun begin ;)

P.S. If anyone has any brilliant idea on how to keep the pee in the potty and not through that stupid little crack in the front of those little potties, which then makes it spill all over the floor, I'd love to hear from you!! I should have this little problem figured out due to the fact that I've potty trained at least 9 kids (thanks to my job)....but I don't.

Happy 5th Birthday Tyler!

Tyler turned 5 years old on the 15th. It's so crazy to me that he's 5, that is such a milestone. It means Kindergarten, T-ball, no more naps, more play time with friends and all sorts of big boy stuff. He's been such a fun little guy! He's a big kid who almost looks like he'd be a good bully but he has such a cute smile and a soft heart. I can't believe my Ty Ty is getting so big :'(
We had a birthday party for him with 5 of his little friends at Arctic Circle and they had a great time. Here's a few pics of his big day.

I know what you're thinking...dart tag?? Isn't he a little small? The answer is yes, he shot his brother in the neck and his brother shot him in the face within a matter of seconds. They've figured it out now though :)

Happy birthday Ty Ty!!