The Ekins Family

NO MORE BULL!!!!

2011-12-15T07:47:00.000-08:00

I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Tracy Begay and some of the greatest kids in Grantsville, to help organize the first Anti-bulling awareness group in our community. Bullying is a huge problem everywhere and more and more children are involved on one side or the other than ever before. It seems you cannot read the paper or watch the news without seeing the devastating effects of bulling.

For the past year we have been working to educate people and raise money to help get a program into our schools. This experience was so much more than I ever expected it to be. We have heard so many personal stories of the pain that bulling has caused families and individuals. We have even had many confessions from "bullies" and heard their pledge to do and be better. We have seen our community come together and want more. We had our very first Anti-Bulling Awareness Day on November 22 and it was a huge success. We sold T-shirts through the schools and business in our community. Everyone wore their shirts on the 22nd and the Anti-Bulling Group put on an awareness assembly for the different schools.

They were donned the "Prize Patrol" for the day and awarded hundreds of prizes throughout the schools and our community. Tracy hooked up the group with a limousine donated by

VIP Limousine rentals and they had a blast!

Here is the Anti-Bully clan up early and ready to start a very busy Prize Patrolling Day!

Inside the limo where the singing, dancing and laughing never ceased!

Here we are at Grantsville Jr. High with some of the students who participated in the event by wearing their t-shirt. We presented each school with a banner for them to hang in their hallways to help remind everyone to stop bulling.

The Stop Bulling T-shirt design and banner design was Rylie's great idea and I thought it was very cleaver! It is great to be a part of something so needed and to see it have such a huge impact in our community.

Davin's Football Season

2011-12-11T08:26:00.000-08:00

This was Davins first year playing tackle football! It was a great season. They played for the State Championship against Park City! We lost, but 2nd in state ain't too bad! He is number 31. We had a great time making this little highlight film on our new computer, we just have not figured out how to highlight him so it is easier to watch the play, maybe by next year will have 'er figured out!

Annual Family Halloween Party!!!!

2011-12-03T19:15:00.000-08:00

Matthews Family

Nana & Papa Jack

"Jessy and Woody"

The Conrad Family

"The A** Family"

The Allreds

"Tangled Crew"

The Goss Family

"Vampires"

Ericksons & Matthews

"KISS"

The Allreds

Dalen

"Dennis Rodman"

Grandma Fern and Grandma Toni

"Witches"

The Ekins

Colonel Sanders and the Big Breasted Chicken, Skylar as a Cowboy

Masquerade Madam

Cavewoman and the upside down boy!

"Brainy Smurf"

The Hunts

Dora with the Map and Backpack!

Trick or Treat!!!

2011-11-18T12:17:00.001-08:00

This Halloween we enjoyed great weather, it was cold but it was not wet or snowy! The very next day we had Grantsvilles' first official snow accumulation! So I was very thankful the storm held off for a few hours so we could get some fun trick or treating in!

We budded up with the Allred cousins and hit the town. Paige and I would let them out and slowly follow them around as they were trick or treating! They may have eaten a lot of candy that night but they also ran about 5 miles, from house to house to house!

Rylie had a dance at the Jr. High were her and a few of her friends decided they would go as the Alice and Wonderland cast, it was great except Alice's costume didn't get here in time for the dance. So they had no Alice but they had a blast anyway!

Yeah, Rylie is a bit taller than most of her friends! ha ha ha!

Halloween night Rylie was with her friends so the other three got dressed up to go out and Doug volunteered to pass out candy!

The best part of Halloween is coming home and seeing what you got. Then trading it of course! They all dumped, organized, counted, bragged then the trading began. I think everyone was more than happy with the trading was done!

Rylie and her friends even hit a few houses, but she got too cold and decided to come home and pass out candy with her dad!

CaLifOrNiA!!!!!

2011-11-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

Someone delivered a pumpkin to us.

The instructions said we needed to carve and gut the pumpkin and

we would find a surprise inside!!!

So we carved and gutted and inside we found an envelope with tickets

that said we were going to Disneyland!!!

(The whole time Skylar thought the pumpkin was from Ashtons teacher Mrs. Aagard. I was not as sneaky as I thought I was when I punched out the spider and ghost. I quickly did it one day while I was helping at the school with Skylar. I guess she had seen me and remembered we had been helping Mrs. Aagard, so she thought it was from her. Then when she realized we were going to Dinseyland she yelled "We are going to Disneyland with Mrs. Aagard!!!!!!!" It was not exactly as I pictured the moment but we were all laughing when I explained why Skylar was so confused!

We drove to St. George and stayed with Mark and Megan. It helped to break up the looonnnnggg drive! Our first park was Sea World! (One of my favorites)

We all loved the WhaleBug!

You can't go to Sea World and not feed and play with the Dolphins!

Doug and I did not sit with our kids during any of the shows because they always wanted to be in the Soak Zone and we did not!!!!! They got SOAKED everytime!

The Shark Emporium was as scary as I remembered it being. But the kids loved it!

Trick or Treating at Sea World was really fun. We thought these mini bananas were so cute!

The Dolphin and Shamu shows were the best and I think all of my kids want to work at Sea World when they grow up!

The next day we went to Universal Studios! It was transformed for Halloween and it was a really scary place, I thought my kids might not recover from all the realistic horror displays and people throughout the park.

Every street was donned with the dead, and sometimes the alive/dead, they were the scariest. You would see and hear people having encounters with them everywhere.

My kids now know who Norman Bates is and I have to keep reassuring them that if we would not have been able to get away from him, that he really would not have hurt us. That he was just an actor! Maybe Universal in October is a little too much for the 10 and under!!

The Jaws shark!!!

These Vampires were hanging out all over the park!

Finally off to the Magic Kingdom----Disneyland!!!!

It was so fun seeing the park decorated for Halloween!

We saw so many of our favorite characters!!!

Pluto is Skylars favorite!

Goofy was Davins favorite!

We all loved Donald because he signed his name with a #1 after it and let us know he is

way better than his pal Mickey!

Mickey was dressed up for trick or treating!

Soooo was Mini!

Mary Poppins was my favorite she talked to the kids for a while as was so sweet!

We did have to wait in line a little for the Toy Story Crew but they were worth it!!!

Skylar could not believe she got to dance with Phineas and Ferb!

We have some great video footage of her rock'in it! My other kids were a little to mature to go out and dance but we caught them groov'in to the beat on the sidelines!

Splash Mountain was one of our favorite rides. Although Skylar said "She almost died, because no one was holding on to her". We showed her that her big sis Ashton

was looking out for her and the proof was in the picture!

My kids thought Its A Small World was dumb, I almost left them in California. It will always be one of my favorites!

Tower of Terror!!!

We had to do a little bit of negotiating to get all the kids on this ride.

As you can clearly see in the picture most of them had their eyes

closed the whole ride.

But it only took once and then they loved it!!! We probably went on this ride the most.

Rylie set this picture up to show the terror in her eyes!

We got a little wet but the water show was amazing!

I stopped begging Davin to act normal when I was taking a picture,

thus the nice facial expression.

Skylar was thrilled to have been choosen to be a Jedi in training. Little did she know that she would have to put that training to use against Darth Vader!!!

She did great and said she was not scared even one bit!

That is the face of a true Jedi!!!

Davins favorite part of the day was picking where we would be eating.

These giant turkey legs were a big hit!

We could not have gone all the way to the west coast without seeing the ocean. So before we left we stopped to let the kids check it out!!! It was kind of cold but that did not stop them from getting drenched and sandy. A bad combination for a long drive home!!!!

(and Skylar caught a pigeon, she wanted me to make sure I mentioned that)

We all had a great time and were sad to come home but loved spending the week together!

In a nut shell...............

2011-10-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

There have been several reasons as to my lack of blogging. The biggest being I had no computer for several months, yes months. Then I lost my camera, yep and about 60 pictures. That being said I need to have a few important things documented for my family, because this blog is our only source of "scrap-booking" I do.

May

Ashton had her 4th grade program "Utah a Celebration"

She chose Piute County for her research project and "float".

Rylie was selected to receive the Mayors Youth Award.

Davin turned 8 and got baptized!

The BIG DAY!!!!

June

2011-10-30T16:53:00.001-07:00

Ashton's regular season team took 2nd place and she was selected to be on the All-Star team!

Ashton had a few singing performances with a solo part!!!!

Ashton turned 10!!!! Rylie and Lexi greeted the guest as the tacky tourists!

Davin's Mudcat team took 1st place!!!!!

Davin was selected as an All-Star!

I ran in the Provo half marathon! This is my awesome team freezing at the starting line!

Here we are the night, well actually the morning of, our run.

Trying to stop laughing and get some sleep!

This is actually what happened all night until we only had 3 hours before we needed to get up and run. It was not the best strategy but it was fun!

Doug and the kids could not come down so they made me this really awesome poster

for when I got home! THANKS GUYS!

July

2011-10-30T16:36:00.001-07:00

We all enjoyed a 4th of July with temp not in the 100's!!! Davin and Ashton both rode on floats. Davin with his All-star team and Ashton with her singing group. Rylie was on the four-wheeler selling things to raise money for the Anti-Bullying group she is in! So it was all up to Skylar to get candy for everyone! She did a great job!

Ashton broke her finger during a softball game! We did not know it was broken

so she kept on pitching, and did great!!!

More, more and a little more softball and baseball!

Davin pitching!

Ashton pitching with a broken finger!

August

2011-10-30T16:13:00.001-07:00

Davin finally decided what to spend his birthday money on...... A rat! His name is Rascal and believe it or not rats aren't that bad of a pet, and it beat out a tarantula hands down!

We started a new school year!!!

Skylar is in Kindergarten her teacher is Mrs. Dahle.

Davin started 3rd grade with Mrs. McKeaver!

Ashton is in 5th with Mrs. Aagard!

Rylie is officially a Jr.High student. Big 7th grader!!!

September

2011-10-30T15:39:00.001-07:00

We went to the Taylor Swift concert! We had a blast, We met all of our friends in at Archibalds for dinner before the big show!!! It was a great way to start the funnest night ever!!!

We waited in line forever for t-shirts but it was worth the wait!!!

We did all we could to get chosen for the "T" party but we did not make it, maybe next year!

Davin won the Punt, Pass and Kick competition for the 8 year old division!!!

"Go Big D!!!!"

Believe it or not, I had my 20 year Homecoming reunion! The tradition of riding the firetruck in the parade is still going strong!!! It was fun to see all of my great friends again!

SpRiNG!!!! (I think)

2011-05-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year!!! And about every 2 or 3 days it actually feels like spring, then we have winter again, then spring, then winter, you know how it is, very frustrating.

But it was great weather for the opening day of BaSEbAll!!!! First we had the parade of teams, followed by the traditional crowd serenade of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Then the Mayor pitched the first pitch and we watched an exciting game of major leaguers under the new baseball field lights!!! It was hot dogs and snow cones for everyone!!! It was a great day!

Davin is on the Carolina Mudcats! Coach Rounds, Grandpa Rounds, Doug and his Uncle Bubba are the coaches!!! We are kid pitch this year and Davin is one of our pitchers, and he does a awesome job!!!!

We of course would have loved a little warmer temps for Easter but we survived. I think lots of sugar makes kids unaware of surrounding conditions. They were in their shorts and flip-flops while I had on long sleeves and a jacket!

Easter egg hunt at the Ekins! This year Davin and Ashton were the big finders of the GoLDen EGGs! Adding a little cash to their candy loot!

The Easter Bunny found us!

Rylies basket was behind the couch in as secret closet!

Ashtons basket was hidden in Rylies window seat!

Davins was outside in the garage in top of the freezer!

And Skylars was behind the kitchen table!

We also had a fun SuRviVor EaSteR Party at my mom and dads. There were difficult stunts, gross things to eat, difficult voting offs and of course sought after immunity idols! All in all my team lost, and I consider anyone who actually ate that crap a winner!!!!

It has been difficult to remember that we are still in school! But Rylie completed her Solar System project! She had to come up with a creative way to display all the planets. She choose sugar cookies! It turned out very cute and it was super yummy! (Well only Davin actually ate the cookies off the poster after who knows how many kids touched them while it was on display, YUCK, I think he does stuff just to gross me out)!

Rylie's first Turkey!

2011-04-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

Rylie drew a Southern Utah Turkey tag this year. Her and Doug went down and met up with Doug's brother Mark who lives down there. She has had quite the first year of hunting. Hunting turkeys has been her favorite so far. They called in some jakes the first day, but she whispered to Doug that she wanted a "big one"! So she passed them up. That night she had some hens just about walk right over her. But the next evening was when the real action happened. As you can see in the video, that turkey was ticked and a little protective of his women, he beat up Marks poor decoy. Doug and Mark were just as excited as Rylie, if not more!

Do you watch?????

2011-03-15T10:14:00.001-07:00

If you do then you know that Monday was the final rose ceremony!We have been faithful to this season. I know it is ridiculous, but that is what makes it so much fun!

This was left on my door step Sunday evening. And of course I accepted the rose,

I am after all "in this for the right reasons" and it is just such a

"surreal experience" I would never miss the final rose ceremony!!!!!!

(even if it was a no brainer)

I will say that the after the final rose interviews really surprised me. Emily looked beautiful, (even if she did play with her hair to an annoyingly high rate) she just did not seem as sweet as I thought she was. I don't know why it is always such a surprise to them that their guy had feelings for someone other then them during the show. Do they watch the bachelor????? There has never been just one girl who gets a key to the fantasy suite. You signed up for this maybe you should read the fine print! That being said I hope they make it, he seems smitten!

I will be looking forward to May when Ashely takes the hot seat as the new Bachelorett!

GiRls, GIrLS, GiRLs!!!

2011-03-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

With 9 granddaughters (well 12 but 9 old enough to enjoy the show)

how could we pass up nosebleed tickets to the ice capades???

We had Aaron and Kates kids for a week while they went to Hawaii. We were all so excited we had a party everyday! One night we decided to go to the ice capades, its a good thing we all have great husbands who took all the boys and babies so we could pull this off at a spur of the moment!

What are the ice capades without glow in the dark junk, I mean treasures!

Rylie was not sure she wanted to come, she is getting to big for this baby stuff, but I think she was glad she did. I know I was!!! Ashton is always ready for a party, there was no twisting her arm. And Skylar had a smile a mile wide the whole time. She was mesmerized!

I don't know if we have a bunch of boy crazy girls in our family or if Disney is to blame but this was every one's favorite part of the program. We, the adults, thought it was because of the princesses. But we were soon informed that it was because of all the PRINCES that they loved this part! "I like Aladdin the best, because he doesn't have on a shirt" was an actual quote, (I will not admit whose daughter said that!) WOW! We better keep a close eye on this bunch!

SoCCer!!!

2011-03-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

We had our first outdoor soccer tournament of the season over Presidents Day weekend. We played down in St.George, so we were expecting a little bit of a warmer situation than what we had. It was one of those freak snowstorms that sometimes come through that part of the state (it seems like every time we go there we hit one of these RARE weather patches).

But come RAIN, SNOW, SLEET, HAIL soccer plays on!

Rylie had a great game, she is a tough defender and an aggressive

offensive player, she is fun to watch !

We did not do as well as we would have liked but there is always next weekend, right?!?!?!

Ni Hao....

2011-02-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

means hello in Chinese. Just one of the many things we learned at the 6th grade Chinese fair!

Rylie had to choose a dynasty, then a topic from that time period and write a report and make an artifact to go with her report! She choose the Sung Dynasty and wrote her report on the fashions at that time.

On Friday we were able to "travel" through the many different dynasties, traditions and fabulous customs of the Chinese. Rylie was our tour guide. She introduced us to many great people like Confucius...

Lao Tzu

and Buddha

We also got to see many interesting sights such as the tomb of Emperor Qin, the emperor who was buried with the terracotta soldiers. His tomb has not been opened because it is said to have been booby trapped and will kill anyone who tries to enter.
They all did a great job and we learned a lot of interesting facts some of my favorite were:
*Evil spirits are believed to only travel in a straight line,
therefore most paths in China are zig zag.
* The Sung emperor loved the story of Cinderella and believed she was chosen by the prince
because she had the smallest feet in the kingdom. So he made it know that all women
must bind their feet to keep them small only about 31/2 inches if they were to be
seen as beautiful or to have good fortune.
As you can see in the following video....

Chinese foot binding

2011-02-10T15:39:00.000-08:00

Rylies First Goose Hunt!!!!

2011-01-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas break Doug and Rylie planned a goose hunt in Wyoming. They had planned on going with our friends Doug (McKinney) and his daughter Abby. Rylie and Abby took hunters safety together this past fall. Grandpa and Uncle Mark were able to join the fun as well! Despite the freezing or should I say below freezing temperatures they had a blast!
Rylie learn all the ropes for a successful hunt and was able to bag one of her own!

This day the temps were 15 below zero, CRAZY! They were set up pretty good though in a pit with heaters. Rylie and Abby loved hunting as much as spending their nights in the pool at the hotel. They can't wait to go again!

Christmas 2010!

2011-01-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning is so much fun! I love watching the kids faces as they discover what Santa has left for them!This year Rylie is really into Taylor Swift so she was thrilled with a new calendar and a mp3 player full of Taylors songs.
Skylar got a new bike and a baby she named Charlie. She loved the bike but wants the training wheels off!

Ashton must have been really good this year because she got her scooter and Santa even brought one for her sister and brother so she does not have to share!

Davin got the airhog he wanted so badly and was really excited to see that Santa also brought him a motor scooter!

I am sure someone will get hurt riding these scooter but they sure are fun, even Doug and I took them for a spin.

Ekins Family Party!

2011-01-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

No Christmas would be complete without Grandpa Ekins game of Let's make a Deal!!!!! All the kids wait and watch hoping this year they will leave with the grand prize and not a zonk!!!!

Rylie ended up with this beautiful head ornament... ZOONK!Davin almost walked away with the grand prize but it slipped between his fingers, but he still left happy with a camo hat and head lamp!

Skylar ended up with some really cool socks!

And Ashton traded and bargained so many times I am not sure what she ended up with!

This party is always held on Christmas eve so it only makes sense that we frost cookies for Santa!

Davin ate a lot more than he was willing to give away!

Skylar was very meticulous and wanted it to be perfect for Santa.

These two frosted about 20 cookies they were all about quantity... not so much quality!

Christmas day after breakfast at Deanna's (which I forgot to take my camera to) we head back up to
Ekins for PRESENTS!!!!
Davin loved this giant gumball machine and he is making bank from it, if you even think about wanting a gumball you better have your quarter ready or NO GUM FOR YOU!

Rylie and Lexi got matching sweaters! AHHH

Sky got lots of coloring equipment. Now she can color pictures for everyone!

This year Grandma Curtin was with us for Christmas. She made sure she got all the great grand kids a special gift from her!

Our visit with Sant!

2011-01-07T18:35:00.001-08:00

When we heard Santa was going to be at the Gristmill we jumped in our cars and headed over to see him!!! Davin was ready with his supper loooonnnng list! It included a Air Hog! That's it, he did not want anything else just an Air Hog! Ashton was wishing for a motor scooter and let Santa know that she would be very careful and that she would share it with her brother and sister if she got one!!!

Skylar froze up, she could not remember what she wanted so Santa gave her some suggestions she said yes to every one. Thanks Santa for putting new ideas in her head! lol

All the Grand kids got hot coco and cookies to eat with Santa, then we went out for a sleigh ride in the snow!

We also got make some crafts and huddle around this not nearly big enough fire! The only thing missing were Doug and Rylie!

Christmas at Nana & Papa Jacks house

2011-01-07T18:21:00.001-08:00

Matching PJ"S are so darling!!! The kids could not wait to open this

present, even when they knew what it was going to be.

All the kids participated in the nativity! Rylie was the narrator and pianist, Davin was Joseph (he was nervous all day thinking of his parts and worrying he was going to make a mistake.) Ashton was the angel and a wiseman and Skylar was an innkeeper and the star! They all did great!!!!
We had great food, lots of presents and great company it was a wonderful night!

1st party of the season!

2010-12-31T12:02:00.000-08:00

Grandma Toni loves having all the family over during the holidays, even when she is not feeling well, she still insists on a big party! She gets all 23 GREAT grand children sweatshirts which they love!!! And does not forget any of the 12 Grandchildren. She is amazing and I love her so much! I am very thankful that she holds this party, otherwise I am not sure when I would ever see my cousins. Being with family is my favorite party of the whole holiday season!

Family Photos....

2010-12-31T11:25:00.000-08:00

What a JOY! We took real family photos this summer but I wanted some of the kids in their Christmas attire so we attempted self-photography. Yeah it wasn't great! We set the timer and it gave Doug only about 5 seconds to get in the picture. Needless to say this was the only shot that was somewhat OK. All the rest are of him not quite in position, or his tie in swing motion, or one of the kids cracking up and looking at Doug instead of the camera. Next year we will try something different!

Skylar 5 years old

Rylie 12 years old

Ashton 9 years old

Davin 7 years old

Festival of Trees!

2010-12-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

We are starting the hustle and bustle of the holiday season off on the right foot!

At one of my favorite places the Festival of Trees. (I will say it is much more enjoyable

to go friends vs. my wild, handsie, continually hungry, tired legged, Santa obsessed children, but we still had fun).

Ashton's singing group performed there this year so we made it a family event!

She even had a little solo part that she was very nervous about, but she did great!

Davin Decorat'in

2010-12-11T16:01:00.000-08:00

This year Davin's class got to help make decorations for Heritage West Credit Union's Christmas tree. Their class had been working on the decorations for a few weeks so they were ready to put it all together!

It helps having tall children when you are trying to get a picture!

This is a few of his classmates that were chosen to come to the credit union to decorate!

It was a cute tree with a cowboy theme! After all their hard work they got to eat a yummy Christmas do-nut for the credit union as a thank you for all their help!

Rylie turns 12!!!!!!!

2010-12-11T15:45:00.000-08:00

We decided to have a video scavenger hunt birthday party this year and it

turned out to be a lot of fun! We drew numbers to see who would be on who's team then drew for drivers. Me, Doug and my mom were the drivers for our teams. The scavenger hunt took them all over the town and caught them doing things that made us laugh all night as we watched each video to see who actually filmed the most items on their list! My mom's team won, but it was close!

We came back and ate pizza and had banana splits while we watched all the videos then it was time for presents!!!! And after all the gifts were opened, her friends revealed a last surprise gift that they had all pitched in to buy THE WORLD'S LARGEST GUMMY BEAR!!!!

(Rylies favorite treat)
She could not believe that it really weighed 5 pounds so we double checked just to make sure!
It was a great birthday, I am sure one she will never forget!

Skylar's Birthday!!!!

2010-11-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

Skylar turned 5!!!

She is growing up way to fast! I want to freeze her at this age forever! She is so funny, sweet and kind. Even her brother and sisters like her, she really is a joy to be around!

She wanted a MiNi MOuSe Birthday party
so we did our best to turn all our guests into little mini mouses!

Two of her best friends are boys so we had to throw in a couple of MICKEY Mouses too!

Her favorite part was not the presents, it wasn't the games, or the prizes it was

having everyone sing Happy Birthday to HER!!! It was fun having all of her friends here at the same time, they all got along and took turns so well, I was really impressed!!

Friends, Fun and Food...

2010-11-08T19:29:00.000-08:00

Who could ask for anything more????

I was able to get together with a few of my high school friends thanks to Celeste who put the luncheon together! It was so much fun catching up with everyone! It did not take us long before we were laughing about larrietts, cheer leading, bus trips (I will say no more about that), sports, teachers, and of course good friends! Pretty soon we all felt 18 again! In fact this is the only appropriate picture I could post-but the others I will keep as blackmail for the future!

We really missed all of you who could not come, but we vowed we would do this on a more regular basis, so maybe next time! It was brought up that next year is our classes turn to be honored at homecoming and of course ride a top the fire truck,. We all promised we would be there, so let this be a heads up to all of you who are riding the fence, come join us it will be fun!

Carving Pumpkins!

2010-11-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

Picking out the pumpkins!!!

Skylar found hers first, it did not take her long it was big, round, orange and a pumpkin- she was sold!

Rylie went for the big and green pumpkin!

Davin was happy with his find of the perfectly round pumpkin!

Ashton had the most difficult time making her decision. Should she go for the biggest, the roundest, the greenest, the weirdest??? The sun was going down so she finally settled on this one!

Everyone carved their own this year even Skylar (with just a little help). I hate that my kids are getting bigger but the fact that they can finally cut, gut, and carve their own pumpkins I have to say I am actually happy about!

Rylie went Trick-or-Treating with her friends this year, but she wouldn't go as Daphne so she put together a costume using Papa Jacks big bad wolf mask, she looked pretty scary and everyone thought she was a boy, go figure!

HaPPy hAllOwEEn!!!!!

2010-10-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well it's that time of year again!!!!
The annual family Halloween party brought out all kinds of spooks, lots of laughs and fun for all!

We went as the Scooby-Do clan! And sad to say we did not bring home any awards this year.

Doug and the kids were mad at me because they wanted to go to the party dressed as their dads idea, even though they had no idea what it really meant, but I had to put my foot down . Doug's great idea was to dress Davin up as Tiger Woods and Doug would be his caddy and all of us girls would go as, well you know where this is going, as his mistresses. I said NO-WAY, and now we lost, so they are all blaming me

Great minds think alike!!! Kadee and Andrew also came as the Scooby clan!

The Matthews Family + Aaron Vera (Megans date to the Masquerade party at the high school)!

Jolynn came as a drill mistress with her 1980's drill team girls!

I Loved Bob's costume!!! Only none of the kids knew who he was! But to our surprise "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown was playing on the TV!!!! So I had to get his picture with Charlie Brown!

The Allred family showed up with the TOOTH FAIRY!!! ( Bub had been wearing this costume down at his practice for a few days, we are getting a little worried he may actually like wearing this).

This is Laurie and Jody in case you don't recognize them! Laurie won Best Overall Individual costume!

The Allred Family took home the grand prize of Best Family Costumes!!!!

I've got you Babe! Deanna and Paul took home Best Couple Costume as they so precisely portrayed the actual Sonny and Cher!

We were all so happy to see that Grandma and Grandpa had new costumes this year, we are not sure who they were suppose to be but they took home theaward for Best Thrown Together at a the Last Minute Costume!

Nana and Papa Jack came as Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf! The came in second for best couple, I thought they were great! My dad even painted black hair on his legs!

These guys were great too!!! I was not sure who they were for a minute,

but once I figured it out I didn't know how I did not see it immediately!

Drew Carrie and Mimi, with a cute little Lady Bug!

Ok, I had no clue who these two were and Doug was very disappointed. (I thought Dallin was Wayne from Wayne's World and I thought Derrick was a omish baseball player) because I guess they are the spitting image of the two pitchers from the Giants.
Dallin won the award for Looks Most Like!
Now that I have seen pictures he really does look like Tim Lincecom!

No party would be complete without Lady Gaga!!! Thanks Kylie for bringing her to ours!

Nikki as Dorothy with the scariest scarecrow costume I have ever seen,

I will have nightmares about this.
Her boys were Zombie skateboarders, Daxton was not happy I had to ask him what he was!

Gilda came as the cat from Shreck, Puss in Boots????

Megan and her friends stopped in before heading over the the High School Dance. We had Cinderella and Prince Charming, Deb and Napoleon, and Little Red Ridding Hood with the Big Bad Wolf. (Megan did the make up job and it was great!)

Thanks Jo and Bob it was great!!!!!

Tooth Fairy?????

2010-09-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Skylar lost her first tooth. I am still not sure exactly what or how it happened? She was at gymnastics when the loose tooth was first discovered so I am wondering if she knocked it on something. She seems a little young to be loosing teeth. All I know is she was ecstatic. I have never seen a child so excited for the tooth fairy to come.That being said, she did have a major melt down when it actually feel out. She started crying, so hard we could not understand her, and none of us knew why. Finally she held out her little hand and in the middle of her palm was a shiny white morsel of a tooth. That was when I realized what was causing the tears. I explained that it had to come out in order to leave it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. Luck for her she has older siblings who happily explained the whole thing to her and replaced the tears with utter joy and anticipation. She could hardly fall to sleep that night she was so excited. And can you believe that our tooth fairy nearly forgot to do her job. Not only is she cheap ( Or so I have been told by every single one of my children every single time they lose a tooth... So n'so gets 5.00 for their teeth, and some of their friends get 20.00 per tooth. So, it is confirmed our tooth fairy is cheap) But there have also been countless times she has completely stood us up. So I am looking for a replacement tooth fairy if any of you know any good ones I am hiring!

Help!

2010-09-25T06:45:00.001-07:00

Can anyone tell me why my new family picture is a quarter of the size I wanted it to be? I just removed the old one and selected this one to replace it? I dont' get it????

School Dayz!!!

2010-09-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

Even though I felt like summer flew by my kids were as excited as ever to get back to school!

Davin is in 2nd grade his teacher is Mrs. Nicholls. I showed him this picture of me in 4th grade with Mrs. Nicholls when she was my teacher. I also worked with her when I was teaching. I loved her as a teacher, as a co-worker and as the teacher of my children. She is wonderful! Other than the style of clothes I think she looks exactly the same, I hope I age that well!

I am the tallest one in the back. That was always my permanent spot, I never got to stand by the teacher I was always too tall, I am still a little ripped about that!

Ashton has Mrs. Walker and is in 4th grade! She is in a portable again this year, but this should be the last time because the new school is coming along great!!

This is the progress on the new school , I am amazed at how far they have come!

Rylie is in the Jr. High building, but is not technically a Jr. high student. She is only in 6th grade this year. Did I just say ONLY, I mean I cannot believe I have a child old enough to be in 6th grade, how old am I again????
Already we have had some great conversation. Like this one...

me: Rylie who was that girl?

Rylie: Oh, she is in my class.

me: Oh, I have never seen her before.

Rylie: Yeah, I don't think you know her, her mom is a pole dancer, and I am

pretty sure you two don't run in the same circles.

me: Oh, right.

me, in my head: Did she just say pole dancer? And does she really know what that is???? Maybe we need to have another mother-daughter talk.

Also, I was forbidden to walk in and take a picture of her at her desk, sniff sniff, she is really growing up!

Last but not least, Skylar started 4 year old preschool at Miss Karmas Kiddie Korner!!!

Skylar loves everything, so of course she loves school! She really thinks she is one of the big kids this year because she is in a "Car Pool", and apparently that is way cooler than just having your mom drive you everyday!

Lets get Dirty!!!!

2010-07-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

Over the 24th of July all the Ekins went on a family camping trip for Doug's moms birthday!

Doug's parents have some property in Marysvale Utah. (a place I had never heard of before) so we all went down to spend a few days in the great outdoors!!!

The new small 4 wheelers were definitely a hit with all the kids.

Everyday the girls did every one's hair (and eyebrows occasionally), with hair color gels, and gave who ever was willing "outdoor facials".

The kids were having fun from sun up to sun down and later of course. Making things, doing crafts, playing in the river, riding 4-wheelers, shooting army men and empty pop cans at Davin's shooting gallery, roasting whatever, and getting as dirty as they could all day!

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On the 24th of July we went into the town of Marysvale. It is a very small town but they know how to throw a party!! It started with a parade, where each kid was loaded up with candy, toys, water bottles, Frisbees, all sorts of stuff. Then it was off to the city park for games, races and great food! I could not believe the prizes they were giving away and neither could my kids. Rylie did not even want any tickets at first, but when the younger kids came back with all their loot, she and Lexi where all about playing some "little kid" games!

Then we walked over to the Rodeo where we had great seats and lots of games for the kids in between the rodeo events. They got the chance to catch a chicken that they could trade back for five dollars. Skylar was laughing so hard she couldn't even see where the chicken was through her tears of laughter. Davin and Ashton touched feathers but no one in our family ended up with the half plucked chicken. The older kids chased a cow with a ribbon tied to its tail, whoever ended up with the ribbon got themselves 10 bucks. Rylie and Lexi did not even try to go after it. When I asked Rylie what she was doing out there she replied " That thing had horns , I wasn't going after it".

But the highlight of the day was the FISH RODEO. All the kids entered into this big cemented area. They filled it up with about 6-7 inches of water and then dumped in over 200 trout. After that is was a free for all. They had to use their hands but whatever they caught they could keep!
It looks like fish for dinner tonight!!!!!

Skylar was so sad when we told her the fish was not a pet but rather her dinner. She was convinced that if we just filled up the tub at home her fish would come back alive and could be her pet!

The kids had fun walking through the little town and seeing the sights!

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We all loved the day we spent at the lake.
Rylie tried water skiing, but didn't really like it too well but we were proud of her for trying. Grandpa thought he could water ski from the sitting, relaxed position just off the shore but he could not get up, not that way anyway!

Everyone splashed and played around all day, no one wanted to leave to go back to camp we were having so much fun!

The tube was probably everyone funnest part of day. They even loved getting thrown off!

One the way home we stopped at Big Rock Candy Mountain that is just a few minutes outside of Marysvale. It is really worth seeing. Our kids thought it should be renamed to Big Carmel Sunday Mountain, I agreed!

We had so much fun we already have it on our calendars for next year!

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

It is now a tradition for all the families to have their picture taken in front of Grandma Toni's house with the flag! It is a great way to start the day, reminding the kids about what the flag stands for, what Independence Day really means and to give thanks to all of those who have and are defending our country!

I love this picture with all the kids in their RED, WHITE, and BLUE waiting for the parade to start!

The parade was great the kids were loaded up with candy, flags, frisbees, cool 3-D glasses for the fireworks show and popsicles! Then it was off to the park where there was FOOD, FROGS, FISH & FUN, for everyone!!!!

(Lucky us there are several fish in each bag)

Even luckier were the three older kids who got giant frogs to take home and ......... yeah, what exactly am I suppose to do with this frog??????? Do they eat fish? Because I happen to have a few of those I would like to get rid of.

Skylar loved all the blow-up activities. The rock climbing or in her case rock sliding was one of her favorite.

Here she is being drug up the wall as she holds on and smiles for the pictures!

My parents were able to have almost all of their grand kids in one spot, we were only missing Brecken and Tate, they were on a float with their dad!

As if we had not had enough to eat, we had a fried chicken party that evening at Deanas, complete with team Olympics, minute to win its, and lots of laughs.

Before the fireworks Taylor, set up his DJ equipment and we couldn't help but start dancing.

"Land of the Free because of the Brave"

was a line on one of the floats and I thought it was a great way to end the day, remembering all of those who have given their lives for us!!!

One Hot Ticket!!!!

2010-07-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

Ashton turned 9 on July 25th so of course that meant party time!!!!

We decided to have a Red Carpet Late Night Movie Party!

( It was a mouthful but we got it all in!) All of her guests dined at the 5 star Backyard Pizza Parlor, had a toilet paper dress designing contest and walked the red carpet.

(I failed to properly train my paparazzi, there for I have no pictures of those events)

But I did get some shots of the outdoor movie.... Rylie and Lexi even volunteered to cater the event.Here you can see them getting served their movie treats!
They are all such great girls it was fun to have them all over!

Way to go Rockies!!!!!

2010-06-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

Davin had a great baseball season and we were sad to see it end!He played first base and really did a great job!

Batting was his favorite part of the game and he tried all season to get a Grand Slam!! He got close making it all the way to 3rd base but just couldn't make it in!

He had a fun team. The first words out of his mouth all season long were " Do I have a game or practice today?" The days when he had neither were long for him but he filled it with hours of backyard practicing!

This was his first year in coach pitch and he loved it!!!! He was also selected as one of the alternates for the 8 and under All-star team. He was so happy!!!! He was able to play in the first tournament they were in and he hit a great ball (off of a kid pitcher) giving our team the first two points on the board! He will only get to play in the other tournaments if someone can't be there but he doesn't care, he loves just going to the practices!!!

Last Day of School Fun!!!

2010-06-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

We had our annual last day of school party! It was great! The weather cooperated and even though there were a billion kids they all got a long great together! We were so excited to have Aaron and Katie's kids here to celebrate with us!

A bunch of kids in the "safe" pool!

The one thing we never lack is the amount of snacks available to all the sun bathing, slip sliding, wet and wild celebraters!

It is a fun day for the grown ups as well because we sit around nibbling on all the snacks, talking & laughing and most importantly making sure no one gets hurt!

Skylar even got to invite some friends from preschool over this year!

Making her feel as big as her sisters and brother!

Circle bone surgery!

2010-06-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

Skylar came up to me one day and said "look at my circle bone", I tilted her head back and said, "WOW that's weird, I wonder what that is." So it was off to the Dr. to find out. Her doctor had almost the same response I did and sent me off to Primary Children's Hospital to see a specialist. His response was very similar to the rest of ours and said "We won't know for sure what we are dealing with until we go in and remove it." So that day we scheduled a date for surgery. Skylar was so excited, (ya she really didn't understand what was going on) all she knew was she was getting a lot of attention and some cool new pj's.

Primary Children's Hospital was amazing. They were so great with her, they thought of everything she may have a question about and answered it and even some we would have never thought of. She loved the doll she got and was able to draw a face on her while we waited, she also love the magic wand she used to open the doors back to the surgery room.

She was an "ideal patient" and her doctor met me in the parent waiting room and told me that her "circle bone" was actually a thyroglossal duck cyst. Which is good and non threatening, but that her cyst had a track ( I pictured it like a tail) that connected the cyst to the back of her tongue and it just happened to go through her throat bone. So in surgery they had to clip her throat bone and remove part of her tongue in order to remove the entire cyst. He thought she may need to stay overnight for recovery but she was a trooper and we were out of there just a few hours later.

Things were looking great until this showed up.......

Ya, I think the circle bone looked less threatening. So we went back and of course that was not typical so now we are on "watch". Which means we will watch it to see what other abnormal things happen, then the doctor will decide if we need another surgery or if she will eventually be ok. But, you would never know by watching her that she even had surgery. The very evening we got home she wanted to go jump, and although I was informed she was to have soft foods like applesauce and bananas, the first thing she eat was a chocolate chip cookie, I quickly tried to stop her but down it went and she was fine and has been ever since.

5th grade bike hike

2010-06-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

It is a great right of passage to complete 5th grade and attend the annual 5th grade bike hike. This is where all 5th graders attempt to ride their bikes from the school to the Deseret Peak Complex which is 8 miles away.

I was excited to helmet up and ride along side Rylie and her class!

Here we are waiting for the police escort! There were lots of kids and parents up for the challenge!
It was a very very (60 mile per hour) windy day and on a few stretches of the road it was easier to push the bike than try to ride it!
Rylies bike got a flat tire about a mile away from our destination. So I gave her mine and put hers on the trailer that at this point was filled with bikes that had flats, people who had wrecked, or those who just could not contend with the wind any longer. I was going to hop in one of the cars trailing behind us but there was no room so I decided just to run the last mile.

Here we are, we all made it and the reward of ice cream sandwiches, pizza, drinks and a few hours of swimming made it all worth it. The ride back to the school was a little easier, they were wetter but it was more down hill!

Dancing Queen!!!!

2010-06-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

Skylar had her spring dance recital on May14th.

Her Dancing Queen costume was her favorite!

Here she is back stage getting some glitter lip gloss and a sparkle sticker.

There were A LOT of little girls in this room, the girls that helped had a long night a head of them.

Here she is rocking the Dancing Queen !

This was the Sleepy Dance. Skylar was so happy when her teacher told her these could be her new pj's, she loved how "slippery" they felt!

It was a fun night and she did great!!! This is the finale, coming to take their final bow!
She did great but all year she was just biding her time until she could quit dancing and get back to what she "really loves" gymnastics!

Lov'in Laser Tag

2010-06-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

Davin Turned 7 on May 2nd!

Davin was so excited to go laser tagging with some of his friends! We had scheduled his party for May 7th and after we delivered all of his invitations we found out Davin had a make-up baseball game that night. Between his team and the team we were playing it effected 6 kids so we had to move the party to Wednesday the 12. It is a good thing Davin loves baseball or that might have not gone over so well!Here is the whole crew waiting for their turn! Here are a few members of the green team!!!! You are also looking at three of the tallest first graders in Grantsville!

This picture did not really turn out but we had so much fun in the laser room, I think the kids would have played all night!

Ladies and Gentlemen.....

2010-05-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

"Boys and girls, hold on to your hats, because here comes the

FIRST GRADE CIRCUS!!!! "

One of the biggest highlights for a first grader attending Willow Elementary School is the First Grade Circus!!!! The boys all dress as clowns, they can be circus type clowns or rodeo clowns or whatever kind of clown you can come up with. And and all the girls get to dress up as fancy ballerinas. It is a darling performance where every child has a special part and all 212 students entertain the town of Grantsville.

Davin chose to be a Jazz basketball player! The boys in his group did a dance to "We Love Basketball" and after their dance they each got a chance to make a shot! Davin was so nervous he would miss but it was a perfect swooosh!!! I do not have any pictures of his Jazz dance because they were so blurry it was impossible to see what was going on. I now know that not only does my camera no longer take clear pictures , but also that my video camera is broke and of course I did not realize any of this until after the program was over!

This is the end of the program where all the classes come back out to the floor and sing to us. Davin is the tall kid in the back with his head turned backwards talking , therefore missing the first entire verse of the song. I asked him after what he was doing and he said they were comparing whose make-up looked the most sweaty. I said "Well you missed singing half of the song" he replied "Ya, but I won the sweaty contest" I guess I should be so proud!

In a nut shell

2010-03-29T06:45:00.001-07:00

It has been a while so here is what we have been up to!

Doug and I went to the Virgin Islands in February.
It was beautiful, warm and sunny!

This is where I spent my mornings, afternoons and evenings, loving every minute of it!!!!

I got absolutely fried and wished I would have used sun screen. It made for a long 12 hour flight home, but it was all worth it!!!!

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Rylie and her friends tried out for the Children's Sociable and made it!!!!! There were lots of hours of practicing, trips to Salt Lake, costume fittings, costume adjustments, music changes, and choreography tweaks but it all came together and it was great!

This is Rylie with her partner Bronco (we were forbidden to call any of them couples during practice, they were strictly dance partners) .

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Davin got glasses, he loves being able to see but doesn't really love the glasses!

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My brother Aaron and his wife Kate made a quick trip out to see everyone and to bless their newest additions to the family TWINS Annie and Aubry!

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We had a St.Patrick's Day party were we all made leprechaun catchers. All the kids were ready with their wishes to be granted the next morning after they caught the leprechaun but he was way too tricky and just left them all a treat!

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I painted Davins room. He wanted a camo/hunting room, so with Paiges help that is just what he got. Although dead animals are not really to my taste in home decor, it turned out pretty cute and he loves it!

I am sure this is offensive to some people but Davin thought it was hilarious!

Word to the Wise

2010-01-21T08:56:00.001-08:00

Make sure you are clear, undeniably clear when you explain to your 4 year old that their mouth is numb (after leaving the dentist office) and that they need to be very, very careful. Because they might just not quite understand the severity of the situation and innocently bite a hole right through their lip!

Thanks to our wonderful dentist he gave us some helpful medicine to keep it from causing her to much pain after the numbness wore off!

Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

I can think of no better way to celebrate the New Year than with a

NO Adults-Grand Kids ONLY New Years Eve Party!!!!!

The festivities consisted of Twister, a Play dough sculpting competition, Glow in the dark hide-n-seek, Mario Cart competition, DDR, Puzzle put together, Fireworks, Screaming so loud you wake the neighbors and of course lots and lots of food!!! Followed by a sleepover and a french toast breakfast in the morning!!

Here they all are (or at least the ones who managed to stay awake until midnight) with their hats, horns and noise makers ringing in the new year!!! Thanks Mom & Dad it was great to be able to have a New Years Eve party with our friends!!!!! And even better being able to sleep in after staying up until 3:00 in the morning playing games!!!! Hope you two get some sleep after the party you guys had!

Christmas Time!

2010-01-03T14:31:00.000-08:00

My kids hate when I make them stand by the Christmas tree for pictures

because it always takes us 20 min. because Davin will not cooperate, this is honestly

the only picture where he even looks decent!

Here we were able to get a normal smile, I guess because it is genuine, he was truly excited about getting his first BB gun!

Skylar got her baby and a new 4 wheeler, we had a hard time keeping up with her before, now that she has her own wheels it is really going to be tough!!!

Rylie is at the age where clothes have replaced toys and after a long talk with Mr. Clause, Mrs. Clause was finally able to convince him that she needed a "for emergencies only" (yea right) cell phone! I was as happy as Rylie was for this gift, I can't tell you how many times I have given her my phone only to realize I really feel naked without it and who is she suppose to call when I don't have a phone for her to reach me! (now you all know my side of the argument)!!!

Ashton got a new bike it was all she really wanted, good thing she is such a good girl!

Party Party Party!!!!!!

2010-01-01T12:13:00.000-08:00

Nana & Papa Jacks Christmas party!!!!

All the grand kids sang the Nativity song and opened one of their favorite gifts, the matching Christmas PJ's!

Finally it was time for the long awaited Elf hunt. Where all the kids get their hats on and start looking for clues that have been left by Nana's elf. The hunt takes them all over the house and eventually to the magic spot where the Elf left them each a present! This picture has all of my parents Grandchildren in it except for my brother Aaron and his wife's kids, who live in Iowa. They were busy celebrating not only Christmas, but the birth of their new twin girls (on December 22) making a grand total of 5 under 5 and all girls, yeah we were all wishing them the best of luck!!!!!!

The Johnston Family Party!

It is always the best party ever when you-know-who makes a surprise visit.

The Ekins Family Party!!!!!

This new game was a hit with the kids!!! It started as a HUGE ball of toilet paper and the kids passed it around hoping that as it crossed their lap they would unravel a prize. Everyone came up a winner with tons of candy, prizes, toys and trinkets!

Let's Make A Deal, hosted by Grandpa Ekins is always a family favorite!!!
You just never know what you will end up with. This year Rylie gambled and came home with a purple Easter egg she was hoping was filled with some money and it was a shiney new penny! Oh well ,there is always next year!!!!!

Grandma Toni's Party!!!!

It is always fun to go to Grandmas house because we usually only see this side of the family once a year!!! We always play a giant game of BINGO where there are so many prizes the kids come home with "rustley" sacks full of everything from hotel shampoos to Christmas decorations to candy to card games!!!! Every year Grandma gives all of her 22 Great Grand Children hoodies or sweatshirts which they all love!!!!

Christmas programs!!!

2009-12-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

I love all the hustle and bustle the holiday season brings! And getting each kid to their right performances on time with the correct costume, and accessories just makes it all the merrier!

The Willow Elementary Choir performed Christmas Around the World. They practiced before school, so I am really glad Ashton loves to sing because she is not a morning person. I was a little concerned about how this would work out but the days she has chorus are the only days she will get up!!!!

(Here she is with her two cousins Brecken and Tate)

Rylies Christmas piano recital was the first informal piano recital we have ever been to. However, in the Spring they are doing a Carnegie Hall Spring Concert where it will be a black tie event for everyone, even the spectators. So in contrast her teacher had a casual Christmas performance. Rylie is quite the little pianist!

Skylar's dance group had their Christmas program. She was also able to perform around the town for the seniors! I don't know what we are going to do with her, she was my last hope of having a dancer in the family. But she was far more concerend about the little girl next to her not standing on her sticker than she was about doing the moves. And as soon as her program was over she said "Did I do good? Now can I go back to gymnastics?" She said that she doesn't like dance because "All you do is stand still and move one thing at a time!!!" I will get her on the list for gymnastics again I guess!!!!

As you can clearly see from these photos Davin loved going to all the practices, dress rehearsals and performances. I asked him if he wanted to take is coat off and he answered "No, I am going to be the first one out of here!"

TIN IS IN!!!!

2009-12-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

At our house anyway!!!! Rylie got braces on December 2, 2009! She was actually excited and had been counting down the days until we could officially call her the
"BLING QUEEN"

She is a patient of Dr. Horsley who I would just like to add is amazing, and his office staff is absolutely wonderful!!! They make having braces so much fun! Rylie also got to pick out a cool

t-shirt the day they put the braces on. It was fun for her to wear it to school the next day and break the ice for her new shinny smile she was sporting!

Do you work on Sundays????

2009-12-06T16:40:00.000-08:00

Rylie got a gift certificate to get her nails done for her birthday and Skylar was with us

when she went to redeem the gift! So I thought instead of worrying about Skylar terrorizing

the innocent women at the shop who are there not only to get their pedicures and manicures but also to enjoy a few peaceful moments away from kids. I decided to let her get her nails

done also, just to keep her busy. She is super hyper and never slows down so I really

did not know if this would even work but to my surprise...

she did not move a muscle!

She sat so still I even had to convince her it was OK to turn her head for the picture.

So my only question now is...

Will this lady join me in church next week and work her magic on Skylar during sacrament?????

Surprise!!

2009-11-23T10:22:00.001-08:00

Rylie nearly didn't make it through her eleventh birthday, we scared her nearly to death at her surprise birthday party! It was an elaborate scheme which her friends helped out immensely! My sister asked her to "baby-sit" so we could set everything up and get her friends over with out her suspecting anything. As my sister was driving her home she asked to borrow a book that I had conveniently had Rylie put in her bedroom that morning. So, as planned she ran in the house, down the stairs and clicked on the light. That was our cue to scream "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" !!!! It scared her so bad it literally took a few minutes for her to grasp exactly what was going on!The girls played Bunko and some other games, eat pizza, giggled and made it such a fun time for Rylie. I really love her group of friends they are the best girls ever! I had let Rylie plan a "party", even to the extent of buying invitations and letting her fill them out. At school she kept talking to her friends about her "party" and they all played along so well, thanks guys you did great!!! She had always said she wanted a surprise party but I don't think she ever thought it would scare her as much as it did!

It was a "Thriller" of a night!!!

2009-10-31T11:20:00.001-07:00

The annual Johnston family Halloween party!!!!This year we went as Michale Jackson through the years. We had a great time finding our costumes, I am pretty sure I hit nearly every DI this side of the Mississippi, but we pulled it off. The kids were so excited to show off some of the sweet moves they learned off of

You Tube.
Skylar loved the Bad song and was disappointed when she had to sing ABC 123 instead of her rendition of Bad. But we brought home the best family costume and Rylie brought home the best child costume, so they were thrilled!!!

Austin and Chelsi were buzzzing and Brody was the cutest little bee ever!

They took home the most creative costume award!

Jackson the gladiator with his lovely lady!!!

Laurie and Jody came as tourists! They won the funniest costume award!

Even Venus and Serena Williams showed up looking for a tennis match!
(Husdon and Jolynn)

These two won the scariest costume award! These costumes look a little familiar....

(Grandma and Grandpa)

Daxton and Kelton were Bumblebee and Optimus Prime!

Dallin and Taylor teamed up to pull off the turkey and hunter costumes!

Kadee, Andrew, Alayna and week old Brigsen saddled up and partied all night!

And a Halloween party just would not be a Halloween party without Peter Pan and Tinkerbell!

Tink won the best adult costume!
(Paul and Deanna)

This wicked old witch kept all the kids in line!
(Jana)

Chad, Kori and baby Ellie came as cattle ranchers herding one cute little cow!

This family from Japan joined us and took home the most authentic award!

(Bub, Paige, Brecken, Tate, Avery)

It was a great year and everyone had a fun time bowling, eating , laughing and visiting. Can't wait until next year!

Look whos 4!

2009-10-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

It is hard for me to believe that my "baby" is turning 4. She is so much fun, we definitely ended on a good note! She is always happy and loves everything! She wakes up with a smile and keeps us smiling all day, then at night she hops right in bed and falls to sleep with the same ear to ear smile she started the day with! I do not know how we got so lucky but we will keep this one, we have a few other children that may be negotiable, but this one we'll keep!Of course she wanted a picture with the "Birthday Hat"!

Fall Fun!

2009-10-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Benson Grist Mill's annual "Pumpkin Walk" !!!

All the cousins in front of the original mill.

They have many activities for the kids to do games, crafts, contests, pony rides, hay mazes, fun pumpkin displays to check out. The best part, it is all FREE!

This was Skylars favorite part!

Everyone decorating a cookie!

Fall fun was had by all!

1st grade field trip

2009-10-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

Does anything sound more fun than herding a bunch of first graders through the

many, many animal attractions at the zoo! I didn't think so either, so I gladly volunteered to chaperone Davins class! We had a great time!

Chartered buses??? I thought the school district was having cut backs? I guess only

when it comes to teacher pay or smaller class sizes. Apparently field trips are top of the line for funding.

Lunch break! Looking forward to my smashed sandwich and crunched chips.

Good thing I smuggled in a Diet Coke!

It was a nice day, a little chilly but I think it helped the animals to be more active.

Sometimes I think they are sick, but today they were all out and about!!!

My favorite part. Zuri the new baby elephant!

The DARK side!

2009-10-16T09:25:00.001-07:00

OK, what do you think????? I finally got the guts up to go dark! Thanks to my good friend and hair stylist Kari, she gives me the confidence to try new things, with out her I would probably still be perming my hair and blowing my bangs up. My three oldest kids like it and after Skylar clarified that I was still her mom she liked it too. She now says "You look just like dad"??? I am not sure about that comment, I hope its just because now we are both brunettes and not that it makes me look manly. Doug likes it, I am sure it is just because it feels like he is sleeping with a new woman!!!lol I am still adjusting to it but its ok, they say blonds have more fun so I guess I will test the theory and find out if my life is less interesting as a brunette!

I'm a fan!

2009-09-10T08:13:00.001-07:00

Doug's company took come clients to the Keith Urban concert last night and I was lucky enough to be able to tag along. Sure, I liked some of Keith's songs but a night away from the kids was what I was really looking forward to....

But now that the concert is over, all I have to say is WOW!!! I am a FAN! He puts on one excellent concert!! Absolutely one of the loudest, make you want to get up and dance, scream your guts out concert.

Now I really could not do any of those things because I had to act "professional" Doug did not want his boss or clients to think I don't get out of the house much. So I clapped and swayed and quietly sang along. That was about all I could get away with because we were up in the suite and not exactly in the action. But the next time Keith Urban comes to Utah I am getting front row seats!!! If you ever have the chance to see him in concert GO!!!! Unbelievable guitar skills!!!!!
Tons of fun, never a dull moment, I have no idea how he did not just pass out! It felt like a 30 minute concert I could not believe he did what he did for nearly 3 hours.

Doug Smiles!!!!

2009-09-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hunting is Dougs favorite thing in the world to do, ok maybe his second favorite thing to do! But this year Christmas came early for him when he found this big buck his last scouting trip the weekend before the hunt.We have more pictures of him than we do our children. I chose to only share two with you!

Please pay close attention to Dougs face, yes that is a smile, a genuine teeth showing smile. It occured just after he found the buck he was scouting and got him!
Here it is him smiling with his BUCK!

He had a bow tag so for those of you who do not hunt that makes it a bit harder, well a lot harder to get one. So I really was not worried about having to find more space on my basement wall for
another animal, but lucky us this thing will be there soon!

His little brother Mark, got this one three days before Doug, but he was in a different hunting area! Doug was feeling some pressure and still thinks his little brother out did him. But they both have the biggest grins I have ever seen before!!!

Back to School!!!

2009-08-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! I can't believe summer is over!!! School time again. I love this time of year, new clothes, the smell of just sharpened pencils, new teachers and for us a whole new school situation. For those of you who do not know- Grantsville Elementary School suffered a huge fire this summer. Making it impossible to have students return there for this school year. So both Asthon and Rylie are "displaced". I do not know why terrible situations bring the best out in people but it always seems to be the case. Our little community has been amazing. I cannot even begin to imagine how many volunteer hours have been put in to make everything possible for this year to be a success for both the teachers and the students!
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This would have been Ashton's first year at Grantsville Elementary School! But now she is back at Willow Elementary in a PORTABLE!!!! She thinks it is great? Although her teacher Mrs. Chamberlain is very optimistic I know she is crying inside having to stuff 24 kids into a space not much bugger than a shoebox.

Davin is also at Willow! His teacher is Mrs. Jennings. He is glad that he has Ashton here one more year (and at the look of things, she will probably be there for 4th grade also). I am glad because the parking, dropping off and picking up at this school is ridiculous, now that they have added 16 more teachers between the 3rd and 4th grade, it is impossible! These two will be walking to and from school everyday!!! "Even in a BLIZZARD?" asked Ashton. "Yes, my dear, in a blizzard, tornado, monsoon, what ever comes our way!" I answered. I guess it is a good thing we only live a block away from the school's front doors!!!

Rylie is now at the Jr. High School! WOW!!! She is lucky, because her 5th grade class is the only one that is actually inside the school, the rest are in... you guessed it PORTABLES. She has Mrs. Aagard and is completely ecstatic about the fact that she has a locker and they can buy ice cream during lunch! I told Rylie this is so ironic, when I was in 5th grade the JR. High was a middle school and I was in this exact room, also during my 5th grade year our High School burnt down. So the high school students were "displaced" and ended up using our school (the middle school which is now the Jr. High) after us. So we went to school at 6:45 until 12:30 and the high school students when from 1-6. It was not until we went school shopping that I realized not only is she reliving my 5th grade fiasco year but that she will be doing it in the exact same fashions and styles that I wore at that age. I think I still have some of the florescent clothes that are now the envy of every 10 year old shoved in a keepsake box somewhere in my parents basement!

This is NOT Skylar's first day of preschool, but she was feeling very left out and wanted her picture taken also!

Even with all the changes, the first week of school went well and everyone is loving being back with all their friends!!!!..... I mean having the opportunity to expand their minds and gain knowledge!

Grantsville All-Stars Softball Season

2009-08-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

This was such a fun summer with Ashton playing softball and Rylie playing soccer we were at some kind of tournament every weekend!!! It kept us busy but we loved it!Ashton did great batting!!! She can really pack a punch!There was just as much partying going on as there was softball playing!

Here is the team at

Chuck e Cheese in between games at the Kaysville Tournament!

Here we are again having a blast at McDonald's where the coaches treated the team to an

ice-cream cone in between games!

Our team consisted of girls from Grantsville, Stansbury and Tooele and they all got along so well and were the best of friends by the end of the summer!

In the Kaysville tournament we took 3rd place!

Showing off the hard earned medal!

In our last tournament for the summer we took FIRST PLACE!!! After playing four games back to back, we were able to claim the title!!!!
What a perfect way to end the season!

Ashton with her coach Troy!

Here is the whole team with their coaches! All four were amazing and not only taught the girls a ton in a short summer but were also fun and crazy always playing around and making each game fun and a positive experience! Thank you all for everything you sacrificed for this little team ! They did awesome!

No first place team comes into town with out a fireman's escort! The girls were so surprised when they found out they would be riding atop the fire truck and lead through town with sirens blaring, horns honking and people cheering! They all felt like celebrities! It is great living in a small town where people come out of their houses to wave and yell congrats and every passing car has a smile a honk and a wave for the team!!!!!

Great Job Grantsville Stars!!!!

Mulligans

2009-08-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Doug's summer work party included great food, great conversation, great friends and a fun filled night at Mulligans Family Fun Center!We got to do some batting practice. I think my kids would have stayed batting all night if Skylar would not have been begging them to go miniature golfing!

Davin taking on the fast pitch!

I am not sure what is going on here but they loved all the fun tunnels and

obstacles on the golf course.

Skylar giving her ball a pep talk before each "tee-off" and a

kiss every time it went in the hole.

The weather was great and everyone had a blast! Thanks Presidio!!!!!

24th of July---Yeah, I am a little behind!

2009-08-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

This year we had a week long 24th of July celebration, I do not know how everything ended up this week we must just like to party! First Paige and I decided that Lagoon would probably be less busy on a weekday before a holiday weekend so we took advantage of that and loaded up the kids. It happened to be the hottest day of the year, but we still had a blast!Skylar loved all the rides and with no lines we went on lots and lots of rides!!!

Rylie and Lexi on the kiddie rides, I wanted them in a picture so they rode the ladybug ride for me, then they were off by themselves to hit the big rides! Thank goodness for cellphones, I felt a lot more confident letting them go by themselves knowing I could call them any second to check on them!

Ashton is tall enough to go on any ride at the park but she is too chicken, Brecken is to short to go on most of the rides but she is fearless and was doing everything she could to look taller!

Davin and Tate best buds!

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Next we went to the pioneer days and the Benson Grist Mill! All the kids had the opportunity to churn some butter.... Dip candles....

Rids in a horse-drawn wagon...

Dress up like cute little cowgirls.....
And last but not least was their favorite part, milking Bessy. I got them all excited about being able to milk a real cow only to find out Bessy was cardboard!!! My kids were disappointed to say the least and Rylie was not exactly thrilled I made her "milk" the cow for a picture!
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On the actually 24th of July we celebrated with Doug's family, his mom's birthday is on the 24th so after the primary parade and a little fun at the park we went back to her house and ate and ate and ate some more!!! No pics camera was not charged!

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The next day we went the the BEES game, this has been a family tradition for over 15 years, it is fun to have a huge baseball crazed family section screaming, yelling, chatting, eating and laughing altogether!

Davin brought his mitt, he really wanted to catch a foul ball, but this year Kylie was the lucky one to take home the foul ball she was sitting right in front of Davin but he could not reach it!!!

Skylar just wanted the fireworks to start!!!

Skylar and Avery with their favorite Aunt and Uncle Austin and Chelsi!

The fireworks were amazing as always!

These two are joined at the hip, where one is you will find the other!
It was a busy week but we all had a blast!

Bryce Canyon 1/2 marathon

2009-07-20T06:22:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah!!! I finished the Bryce Canyon 1/2 marathon! I was just as surprised as anybody when I rounded the corner after 13+ miles and saw the finish sign. This picture is actually staged, they let me sneak in while no one was finishing to snap a picture. Doug was not there to see me really cross the finish line, I was way faster than he had planned on me being. Just kidding the traffic was a lot worse and they could only go as fast as the pilot car through the canyon. But is was ok we faked it!

I never thought I would say this but it was really fun! I am new to the running world but I would suggest the Bryce Canyon half to who ever is looking to run a 1/2 marathon. It was a beautiful run, perfect weather and enough down hill to make the up hills not seem so bad!

I ran with my sister-in-law. This was all her idea, and I am glad she dragged me along. There may have been a bit of kicking and screaming a few weeks ago when I started training, but over all it was a blast!

Here we are me, Megan (my sister in law), Laura (Megans sister), and Clint (Lauras fiance). We all were in this together!!

This is after the race. We needed to stretch our legs a bit!

The head band is so flattering I know, but if I do not wear that thing I would not be able to see because the sweat would be running into my eyes!!! It took me 2 hours and 23 min. to run and I am proud to say that I did run the whole 13.whatever miles this race was. I had two goals not to walk and to run a 10 min. mile. I 'm not quite sure about the 10 min. mile part. It took us around 2 minutes to get up to the starting line and there were the lines at the bathroom break that were included in my total time. However, I ran the whole blasted time so I felt ok about it and besides there is always next year right??????

If anyone is interested we could run together next year! Just let me know!!! I am committing Doug, Paige and Mark whether they want to or not! I am serious let me know we will have a blast!

Ashtons big day!

2009-07-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

Ashton was baptised on July 5th it was a Sunday! We do not have a combined stake baptism. Ashton had the whole day to herself. She chose the hymns we sang, who gave the prayers, and who spoke on baptism and the holy ghost! It was so special to have so many members of our family there!

After the baptism everyone about 50 people ( I love that so many members of our family live so close) came over for desserts that Ashton picked out!I can't believe she is 8 already! I know she is taking this baptism thing very serious

and is truly trying to make better choices and be a good example to her little brother and sister and to her friends!

Ashton with her Great-grandma Curtin

She is the only great my kids have ever had on the Ekins side!!

Ashton with Great-Grandma Toni! Ashton with her Great-grandpa Dick and Great-Grandma Shirley! This picture is very special to me because you have to be very quick and sneaky to get my grandpa in a picture. This may be the only one they have together!

Ashton with Nana and Papa Jack!

Ashton and Grandma and Grandpa Ekins!

Ashton was so tickled with this bouquet of white flowers her primary teacher brought over for her! She is so kind and Ashton just loves her!

Happy 4th of July!!!

2009-07-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

We started out the 4th with the annual Ray Barrus 5k "fun" run! It really was fun! Paige and I ran together so Doug and Bub could run as fast as they wanted and would not have to feel guilty about leaving us behind! Doug came in 5th but if I would have registered him in the right category he would have been first! Oops! I came in eighth and this was Rylie first time running the one mile race and she came in third! So we all felt it was a successful run this year!

Here they are already to go to the parade! Rylie is wearing the shirt that she made in achievement days! She was so proud of her tie-dying skills she could not wait to wear this on the fourth!

We have watched the parade from Grandma Toni's house for the past few years, it is nice to have a house right on the parade route, no fighting for seats or walking miles to find a spot. We just turn the side yard into a parking lot and we all fit!
This is Deseret Family Dentistry's float! I must say for a last minute entree we did a pretty dang good job!

I love this picture! All the grand kids that were in Grantsville! You would never know this was taken in G-ville in the middle of the summer with all this green foliage everywhere! The rain has been great!

Chelsi, Me and Kadee how good are we to color coordinate with red, white and blue!!

I had to quickly capture the moment when they were "best-friends" instead of how they usually are, pulling each others hair out!

This can only mean one thing......TROUBLE

Later that night we all got together for the Annual Family Olympics!

This photo is from one of the Leapfrog kick ball games. Young, old pregnant, injured nothing gets you out of playing in the Olympics!

The Sponge Squeeze really helped to cool everyone down!Basketball Toss-Poor Doug everyone on his team made the shot except for him!The Football toss and golf were where some teams started to fall apart!This year Austins team took the Gold!!!Bubba's team won the silver! And Dougs team took home the bronze!

These two teams will need some extensive training before next year!

We are lucky enough to have a back yard that faces the city park so we don't have to battle the crowed and we still get front row seats. Paul even added some patriotic music to the show this year! It was another great Independence Day! I love this holiday and feel so blessed to live in this great country where there are so many brave men and women willing to fight to protect the country I love! Thank you so much! !

Wasatch Back!

2009-06-27T22:24:00.001-07:00

Dougs boss decided to put a team together to run in the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay competition! And Doug was asked to join them! This is a race that goes from Logan to Park City, 188 miles of fun! Your team consists of 12 people each person running several miles over a two day (or how ever long it takes you) period. The races motto is Run. Drive. Sleep?Repeat.Hear is the Presidio half of the team all geared up and ready to run!!!!Although Doug has never really ran before in his life, he did great for his team. In case you did not read that with enough animosity in your voice I will tell you that although I am proud of him it really ticked me off that he just decided to run one day and off he goes pumping out a 8 minute mile. Men.... it just is not fair!

Look at that form!!!! I am sure that as soon as Doug sees I have blogged about this he will try to delete it so I hope someone gets to see this!!!!!

The last few legs of the race they really were trying anything they could to keep motivated. However, is does not look like this bag of cookies is what Matt wants, maybe they should have tried good old Gatorade!!!
Here they are "trying" to sleep while the other van is running. But Doug said there was too much excitement and way to many people to get any sleep!

Doug in the van waiting for his turn. This leg of the race he had to run at 1:00 in the morning!

There team finished 145th out of 436 teams not bad!!!!

Girls day out!

2009-06-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

Ashton looks up to Rylie so much that whatever Rylie does Ashton must also. When Rylie turned 8 my mom went with me to help pick out a dress. We ended up making some "traditions" that we really did not realize we were making. But Ashton remembered every detail of Rylies trip and very sincerely asked when we would be having the "girls day out" with her!

So we planned it! And of course she wanted Rylie to be there with her. (Lucky Rylie)!!!

It starts with a trip to the spa to get a pedicure, since "she will be barefoot during her baptism!"

Followed by a manicure, we need to have those hands looking good for the big day!They both decided to go with a Fourth of July theme, since we were so close to that holiday!!Next is was off to get her ears pierced! This was a very difficult decision for her. She wanted to do it soooooo bad but was absolutely terrified!

This is the look of pure fear! But she did it and was soooo glad she did!

She hates looking at this picture she says it makes her want to cry again, but she also admits that is really did not hurt that bad she was more scared than anything.

After she got the ear piercing over with we were ready to focus on finding the perfect dress! This was the second dress she tried on and she fell in love. She thinks she looks like Cinderella !

After we found the dress it was off to look for shoes! Rylie and Ashton would not stop trying on all these crazy drag queen style shoes. These were one of our favorites! It was a fun day! Davin turns 8 next, I wonder what we are going to do special for him? I don't think he will want a mani or a pedi and ear piercing is out of the question!!!

Ashtons Eight!

2009-06-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

Ashton had been looking forward to this birthday ever since Rylie turned 8!

She wanted to do everything exactly like Rylie! So that of course meant that the birthday

party had to be held at the Lion house in SLC. It is not your typical "party" but they

do make the birthday girl feel very special!

They do some fun things, like the cake for example, has a hidden gumball in it. Whoever gets the slice with the gumball is suppose to have good luck for the year. So the kids are super excited to start eating their piece! And it is delicious Lion house recipe cake! YUMMY!!!

The kids get to go on a tour, play some old fashion games like the ones Brigham Youngs 70 plus kids use to play, pull taffy, hear some funny stories about Brigham Young all the while filling their party bags with fun treats and reminders of the stories they have heard!

They get to have a tea party! With a light lunch that Asthon selected from their party menu!

The birthday girl gets to wear a crown during the party and before she goes she gets a smaller crown to take home. Rylie wore hers to her baptism so of course Ashton wants to do the same.

They also get to pick out a porcelain doll to take home! She got to choose the hair color of the doll so it would match hers!

The weather was so nice, finally a day with no rain, that we got to go out into the garden terrace to open presents!

Here are all the kids ready to fight the traffic and road construction to get back home!

Ready, Aim, Fire

2009-06-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

According to Davin this is the only way to pull a tooth out!

First: You must have a loose tooth!

Second: Tie a string around the "said" tooth

Third: Tie the other end to a foam bullet!
Fourth: You got it! stick the bullet in the gun and
Fire!!!!

Boys are so much fun! He is always coming up with crazy plans and schemes! I want to kill him 90% of the time but I just can't he is so dang funny! He gets away with murder around our house because we start laughing before we can start disciplining and he knows if he can get us laughing he has got us right where he wants us!!!

Utah Summer Games!!!!

2009-06-19T15:23:00.001-07:00

Cedar City or BUST!!!!!!

This is the second year Rylies team has gone down to SUU for the summer games, it is a fun trip. I love Cedar City and SUU so it is fun for Doug and I to go back and show the kids were we first lived after we were married, were we lived before we were married, were we worked, ect. Yeah they were pretty uninterested in all that, all they wanted to do was win some soccer games!!!

Opening Ceremonies is always a blast!!! They hold an opening social for all the athletes, were they feed them and they have big blow up slides and bouncy houses for them to play on. Rylie went to that with her team so no pictures!

At the ceremonies they have the running of the torch, this year one of the runners was Amy Christiansen Palmer, a Grantsville celebrity, and someone my kids knew!!!

Each and every player down at SUU for the games gets to walk around the track for the "Parade of Athletes" there are a lot of kids down there doing everything from soccer to gymnastics to paintball to fencing. It is pretty exciting when they all get together to party!

All the athletes get to stay down on the field for a concert and fireworks show! We peons have to stay in the bleachers, but that did not stop us from singing and dancing all night!!!

Preparing for the game was very important or maybe just a lot of fun!!

Painting up the cars is a must!!! We did our car and the team did all the coaches cars!!!

Face paint and blue hair die I am sure will help us win and if not we look unified!!!

Blue and white pok-a-dot fingernails and toenails was the super secret weapon the girl were sure would get us a win!!!

Game time, was not so great!! We played ok but not how these girls usually play! Maybe we partied a little to much??? But it was fun and a great experience!

Killing time in between games was a lot of fun!!! Last year we found this little "pond" full of tadpoles and the kids caught a bunch of them, so this year we had to go back and see if there were any more. Lucky us there were thousands!!!! So the kids jumped in a caught a bunch to bring home.... yeah stinky, smelly, wet and slimy, tadpoles in the same car with sweaty, stinky smelly kids, we hardly even noticed they were there!!!!

I think this was probably Davin favorite part of the trip!

We had an amazing park right next to one of the soccer fields we played on,

the kids were loving it!

Well the games are over, we did not receive a medal, but we'll be back!

I am not sure who these guys are that hitched a ride home with us!!!!!

Way to Go ASHTON!!!!

2009-06-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

We finished the softball season with a big Splash over at the complex. It may have been 68 degrees outside but that did not stop these girls from swimming.

After swimming for a few hours they had the awards ceremony and announced the first, second and third place teams in each age group. Then they announced the ALL-STAR team!

ASHTON was so excited when they called her name!

Each girl was called up and got to stand on the table benches so we could all see who they were then they announced the Coaches. I only knew one of them but it should be fun!!!

Here is the team, they may look like drowned rats right now but I think we will have a great team. Ashton was thrilled that her best friend Hannah made the team too!!!!

What a way to start the Summer!

2009-06-06T06:56:00.000-07:00

I do not know how this happened I put sunscreen on at least 200 hundred people during the End of the School Year Party but some how I managed to skip my red-headed, freckle-faced, fair skinned little boy!

OUCH!!!!!

Don't mind the spiderman tattoo. I hate those things but he loves them so he sticks them in places I won't see them, like on his stomach!

Yeah, I new it was bad the first day but the second day brought forth a new level of sunburn that I have never witnessed before. Blisters the size of silver dollars.

He has been pretty dang tough considering his situation in fact I have cried more than he has over this whole thing!

Things are getting a little better, the third night was his best night sleeping, he only woke up once needing a new cold rag and a Tylenol! I know that life is full of live and learn situations I just hate when my life lessons hurt my kids. I will never ever forget sunscreen again. I hope this can be a friendly reminder for you all to

WEAR SUNSCREEN!!!!

Schools OUT!!!

2009-06-06T06:22:00.001-07:00

The End of the School Year Party has become a tradition of us. It started when Rylie was is in Kindergarten. My friend and I thought it would be fun to have a little swim party for Rylie and Abby (her daughter) to celebrate school being out. Each year we have continued the "tradition" as the girls call it, adding new friends each year. This year Rylie and Abby completed fourth grade, Ashton and Hannah completed second grade, Davin and Chloe completed kindergarten. So needless to say the party keeps getting bigger. This year we had over 50 kids swimming and having a blast!!! Its a good thing our kids are all the same ages so at least we are stuck in this together.

Some of Rylies best friends are boys and every year they have came and swam with us but this year Katie and I noticed that the girls seemed to stick together and the boys stuck together, I guess they really are getting older and boys are BOYS and not just friends.

We have recruited help to get everyone fed. My mom loves to stop by and check out the happenings and now that Paige lives here I am afraid she is a regular after school party mom. We initiated her last year and now she is a pro.

We had hot dogs, chips n' dip, drinks, fruit, and more treats than even ALL of US

could eat in one afternoon.

Between the big water slide, the pool, the trampoline, water balloon volleyball, and of course a water balloon fight everyone was soaked and smiling all day!! Can't wait until next year!!!

Caution SNOW ahead!!!

2009-05-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

Lucky for us Doug works with some really great people, one of whom is Martin Snow. Martin and his wife Melanie are race car drivers in the American LeMans series. Their logo is a caution sign with the words "Caution Snow ahead", all their fans, family, friends and crew wear shirts with this saying on it! When they race at Miller Motorsports Park we get to go!!! We get celebrity treatment with access to their private suite, catered lunches, and passes that allow us to go into the pits so we can check out all the behind the scenes action. The Snows are really nice and both are awesome drivers they each won a 30 min. sprint race in separate cars (Porsche is their preferred racing car, of course) and as a team they won the 2hr and 45 min. Challenge Class race. It is a blast to watch and the kids love it!!!

This is just one of the hundreds of amazing cars at the race!

Melanie Snows car and pit crew getting it ready for the race!

This picture is taken from the suite, it is right above the start/finish line!

Even Skylar has a love of fast cars!!!!

Where dose the time go??

2009-05-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

It felt like just a few days ago I was on here blogging about Easter, I can't believe I has been a month already! Spring has Sprung and so have Spring Sports! In the past few weeks my appearance has changed a bit, you wouldn't recognize me unless you were looking for someone caring several chairs, a bundle of blankets and jackets (for the Utah spring weather that goes form 80 to 30 without a moments notice), a bottle of sunscreen, a hefty stock of bug spray, water bottles, and most likely two boxes of Capri Suns and enough rice crispy treats for which ever team we are watching at that moment!

Rylie is still playing with her comp soccer team the Crushers who have had a great season!!! Ashton is playing both soccer with the Red Hot Fire Girls, and softball on the Hawks team. Davin is playing t-ball on the A's team. And Skylar just finished her season of gymnastic with a darling year end review program. So we are out hoppin from games to practices to games and back to practices every night of the week! And we love every minute of it.

Here is Skylar with her class and during her performance, check out that form!

Rylie playing in her last game for this season! But there is no rest for soccer players, tryouts for the next season were two days after the last game and practice starts next week for the new season!!!!

We also had our Spring piano review! Ashton and Rylie both did great!!!

(Yeah I know, no picture of Rylie ,I can't find it, why it is not in the same folder with Ashtons piano recital pictures I do not know?????

Ashton loves softball!!! She plays first and third. She is a pretty good hitter too!!!

T-ball is always good for a laugh. Some of these kids are so little they make Davin look like one of the coaches. Especially compared to his team, they are all the size of this kid standing next to Davin, it is so funny to see them in a huddle. Most of them don't even know why they are there. Some are out picking dandelions, some playing in the dirt and last week one of our players got down on all fours and licked the dirt, yeah no one knows why, its just what happens at t-ball!!!

Let's Party!!!

2009-04-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday: All sugared up and ready to go to church!

We had an awesome Easter party at Nana and Papa Jack's complete with a great dutch oven dinner (thanks dad), basketball, crazy cousins, egg coloring, and of course, Easter egg hunting!!!

Notice Asthons homemade t-shirt! She came up with this idea and had it done and on before I even knew what she was doing. All the kids liked it and wanted to make one, maybe next year we will add t-shirt coloring to the festivities!!

I am not sure the Easter Bunny needs to come. Looks like the baskets are full!!!!

Avery, Skylar and Alayna "best friends"( at least most of the time)

This was the last picture we got before the dreaded trampoline accident the ended up with Alayna in the hospital with a broken leg.

Everyone gathered round to color eggs!

We had another great party and Grandma and Grandpa Ekins house! It has been a tradition to hide Rylie, Gabe and Lexi's eggs and prizes so hard that it takes them most of the day to find them all, but do to the near freezing temperatures this day, they got off pretty easy.

Ashton counting to make sure she had found all her eggs!

Skylar's favorite prize was her pink dress-up hat. We could not get her to take it off!

Doug scoping out the sweets!

All the kids with their baskets! Swimsuits are always a favorite basket filler!!

Skylar just can not figure out how the Easter Bunny brought her a ball because "he has no hands". Over and over again she would ask me and Doug and the kids "How did he do that? He only has paws, you can't hold a ball with paws".

"Great minds think alike!"

2009-04-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

I had this great idea to go to the Zoo over Spring Break.... apparently so did almost every other mom in the greater Salt Lake Valley! But we did not

let the millions of people stop us from enjoying the great weather, good friends and of course all the crazy animals!

Can you believe this, we had to wait in line for like a half hour just to get in!!!

Skylar is making the skunk face, this skunk just climbed up the glass right in front of her and gave her a big "Kiss"!!!

We all had a great time and loved the warm weather, we even ended up buying sun screen!

Our leader....

2009-04-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

'My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it.' -- Barack Obama

''Life's tough......it's even tougher if you're stupid.'' -- John Wayne

Kane County

2009-03-26T09:47:00.001-07:00

Rylie is doing a report on Kane County so we decided to take the kids down to St.George with us and spend a few days seeing all the sights she had been learning about for her Fourth grade county report! Kanab is known as "Little Hollywood" because so many movies have been filmed there, so she really wanted to go to some of the old movies sets! The kids loved this place!!
Of course they were all fighting over who got to "drive" the wagon in the picture!! And of course Ashton won!

Doug would not be left out of the fun, he was dying to get in this picture with me!!!

What a cute bunch of kids!!!

This was just to look at we could not get in so they settled for a picture in front!

Zion

2009-03-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

Zion National Park was one of the places Rylie had been reading about and really wanted to visit. All the kids had a blast hiking through Zions.

We hiked all the way to the top seeing all three of the Emerald Pools along the way!

Even Skylar and Daylor liked hiking. Sky did ok going up but Doug ended up packing her most of the way down. She actually fell asleep the last 1/2 mile down, she was pooped!

Notice our lovely hiking shoes, we really were not to prepared for this but we had fun anyway!!!