"This is the Place, Heritage Park"

We had a great time celebrating pioneer day. We went up to "This is the Place, Heritage Park" which is a pioneer village. They had all kinds of activities going on besides enjoying the quaint pioneer village feel. During a gunny sack race, the kids were photographed by the Salt Lake Tribune and their picture was in the paper. (You can read his article HERE)

Other activities included, breakfast, a flag ceremony complete with a firing of a cannon,

 The Cannon was really LOUD!

We were so surprised and happy to run into Aunt Pam and Uncle Brian! 

 A candy cannon! (not so loud, just really fun!)

You can see how each child has used their shirts to carry their candy loads!

We went on train rides.

Panned for gold.

The look of success!

 Josh was really into this adventure. He found many pieces of which severeal he turned in to receive tootsie rolls! Of course, he kept a few for himself.

Nate had started to get a bit teary eyed because everyone else had found gold but him! But Alas, with the help of Daddy, he found his teeny tiny piece and boy was he happy!

Abby surprised us all by climbing up on a bull!

Of course, she was happy to get back down again!

We explored some of the old buildings. In the school house, the boys were asked to be volunteers.

Josh was thrilled to be asked to help out.

He got to help teach some kind of special alphabet they did during that period of time!

Next, the teacher asked Nathan to come up and help him with a demonstration. Of course, Nate practically leaped off his chair with excitement...........

He became a little aprehensive when he found out he was demonstrating the "Dunce Chair" I love the look of concentration on his face as he tries to balance this "too big" hat on his head!

 

Jesse became the next "helper"! The teacher explained that when a child became 14 years of age which is close to Jesse's age, they, then, became the teacher to the younger students. The students were strictly disciplined to help keep things under control for such a young teacher. Jesse is holding a paddle they used in those days. The holes are drilled in the paddle to help it move faster during this type of discipline! YIKES!

Some of the other activities we enjoyed were making crafts, a bracelet with beads,

and a pioneer yo yo, 

a petting zoo, (Abby liked the goats!)

Joshua is the one leaning over to pet the baby bunny!

The boys loved playing in this water even more than petting the animals!

riding ponies,

and watching a pioneer parade down mainstreet. 

All in all, this was a great day to spend commemorating our great pioneer heritage here in Utah.

4th of July! We have the greatest neighborhood!

It began with the neighborhood parade. The kids had so much fun decorating their bikes the night before! We were up bright and early the next morning. Then it was time for lineup!

Hallie was so excited!

Abby rode in the bike trailer behind my bike! She found these "cool" sunglasses and decided she would make them part of her parade attire!

Josh (above) and Nate (below) waited patiently for the parade to begin! If you look closely you will notice that they both weaved ribbon into their helmets, an idea they thought of by themselves!

READY...........SET..............GO!

Uncle Sam showed up for the occasion with this darling clown!

There were lots of riding lawnmowers and 4 wheelers all decorated patriotic style!

We had a cute horse rider.

We had a royalty float!

We had LOTS of kids riding their beautifully decorated bikes!

We were led out by a group of boy scouts from our neighborhood.

We even had our very own grand marshal (who later talked about some experiences he had serving our country!)


Our Spectators were supportive and fun! Some of them threw candy at us!

Of course, what's a parade without a few mishaps!

Good thing, Dad was right there to put Nathan's bike pedal back on!

 The parade ended at the "White House"! Actually, it was the White's house............

Everyone settled in for a wonderful flag ceremony.

Some wonderful speakers.

It was so enjoyable and very entertaining.

After that, we all enjoyed a delicious breakfast! YUM!

AND while we ate breakfast, we were entertained by, our very own from our neighborhood, uprising new group, "Dyer Highway" (you can learn more about them Here! ) These guys are awesome! Tel, Tiann and Mady Dyer, all siblings! You can also check out some of their music on You Tube like this song!

The kids got to play and had so much fun while the others relaxed and chatted.

We all had a great time!



Jesse

It's Jesse's 15th birthday today 7/3 (It is actually after midnight so the blog date is 7/4! We are so proud of all our children but today I am going to post 15 things I especially love about Jesse....

1. He is passionate about everything he gets involved in like Parkour (and Starcraft)! This is Jesse doing a double front flip. He is amazing on the tramp and the ground. He has a lot of natural ability and makes it look so simple! He is also "self-taught"



Jesse doing a back full

2.  He is an amazing brother. His siblings look up to him - both the younger ones and older. He is tons of fun and has them wanting to play with him all the time.

3.  Jesse is very sensitive and loving. I love the all the talks we have. He always notices when I look a bit frazzled and jumps right in without me asking for help or he will offer to babysit or take the kids outside so I can have a break. 

I love how Abby is lifting her legs and Jesse is holding her but you would never notice that with the expression on Jesse's face. See how he calmly just handles things!

4.  He is smart! I was amazed this last term of school when he pulled of such great grades even though he had missed nearly half the term due to illness. Wow! He also makes very good choices.

5.  He is a loyal friend. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He is kind to all!

6.  Jesse has a great sense of humor. This kid is witty and has me laughing all the time. He loves to play with and tease his siblings and they are always coming back for more! 

7.  Jesse is confident and persistent. He decides what he wants and he gives it his all.

8.  He is a spiritual person with a lot of integrity. I am so proud of him and the way he honors his priesthood and the decisions he makes in his life.

9.  He is a great fiddler and striving guitar player <------his newest instrument.

10.  He is FAST! (I'd personally like to see him run track!) Jesse has always been really fast. He was nicknamed "speedster" on his baseball team because he literally looked like he was flying around the bases! (He has his Dad's talent on this one!)

11.  He is a good sport. He has little siblings who frequent his bedroom and think that his "stuff" is really cool. (Too bad about the guitar strings, the clock, the blinds....) Jesse is very forgiving of all their curious but unfortunately sometimes destructive explorations!

12.  He is committed to learning how to drive! (Actually, he already has a head start here and I know, because he is so conscientious, that he will be a great driver)

13.  He is very athletic. He is especially good at basketball and, of course, Parkour as I mentioned above.

14.  He is unselfish and expresses his gratitude to me frequently throughout each day.  I appreciate so much the things he notices and expresses thanks for as well as his leadership and example with his little brothers and sisters in leading them into many thank yous each day as well.  

15.  He has a very content personality. He isn't always asking for "more" like many teens his age.

He is such a great blessing in our lives in so many other ways. It would by EASY for me to go on and on and on! 

We are so grateful to have such a Fantastic son. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE

60,000 diapers and I'm finished!

YES!

I learned that the average child goes through between 7,000-9,000 diapers before they are potty trained. So......I did the math and with 7 kids, I figure between Bryce, myself and any others who have helped me out, we have changed about

60,000 diapers<-------------unbelievable, huh?

Our sweet little caboose, Abby is finally all done potty training. I thought she would be the easiest but she threw me a curve ball. Beginning around 2 yrs old, she started wanting to use the potty. Now, at this point, I was pretty burned out because Hallie had taken so long. Since Abby was only just 2 years old I decided to wait it out for a bit. She continued to ask and so after Christmas, I relented and the training began and boy was it a breeze! Dry pants every single morning, no accidents during the day or night!

WOW!

Then we began to notice that Abby was never "pooping" in the potty! Day after day after day after day until finally we spoke with the pediatrician and he said to let it go another day and if she didn't "go" to try a pediatric enema. Thankfully on Day 5, she finally "went" but it was very uncomfortable as you can imagine.

So began Abby's potty training problem! Over the next months we continued to have problems with Abby "holding her poopies"! We tried to encourage her, bribe her but we feel certain that she linked up that going #2 in the potty chair was painful so she continued on her own agenda. It was awful. Because she held it for days at a time, it was usually painful when she finally went. We tried having her drink things that would loosen her stool but they only gave her diarrhea which only worsened her feelings about going potty! So we did the unthinkable........

We put Abby back in diapers! Yes, we decided to just forget about it and hopefully get her "going" again regularly without any kind of pressure.

It worked! But now, we were back at the beginning again trying to decide how to approach this.

Here's what finally worked.

We began by putting her back in panties and then if she did not "poop" that day we would give her a pediatric enema the next morning. We had to do this 4 or 5 times. We didn't want her to hold it and make it uncomfortable again. Then we began our incentive...

BUBBLE GUM!

Every time Abby went "poop" in the toilet, she as well as all her siblings (to encourage them to cheer her on) got a piece of sugar free bubble gum!  VOILA! IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM. Why didn't I think of that sooner?

Well, this is definitely a strange post but hopefully some mom out there who encounters a problem like this will find some ideas here and solve their own potty problem. Meanwhile, my blog is meant to keep a journal and this one is one I want to remember!

So....Here is our little Angel. All Potty trained and very happy about it!

Here are her parents! Relieved that we got through this little problem and happy to be finished with the messes and expenses of diapers! 

Of course, we will miss the sweet, special baby stage, so precious! (I can't dwell on that part or I will become teary eyed!)
Luckily, we are full of so many wonderful, tender memories. I love my kids so dearly and am enjoying each and every one of them in each phase so much!