Brayden's Preschool Celebration

Brayden's first year of preschool has come to an end and they threw a great party. One of the boys in the school has a rockin grandpa who has built a private park for his family and his children all live in houses surrounding the park. They have a killer play area that is covered so they can use it year round, swings, trampoline, soccer fields, walking paths, sand volleyball, basketball, a pavilion, a fountain to splash it, a "witches" wood cabin, and a CASTLE (he built it for all his kids and grandkids to have weddings and what not in). The kids had a field day where they went to different stations to play then we all went into the castle where they put on a cute program and then we were given these adorable quilts the kids had made throughout the year along with a little scrapbook. It's been such a fun school and they are so creative. I'm sad that Brayden is returning and Tavita isn't going to have the chance to go to this school. Unfortunately they have a lazy mom that doesn't like driving 15-20 minutes to preschool so I found one that is closer by. If any one lives near Lindon, give My SmartWorld a try!
Tavita was glued either to these diggers or the tramp the whole time. Anytime I tried to get him off of this he'd say, "No Mommy, I have to do my work"

Brayden playing soccer with his friends. He may have been the goalie but he was sure excited that his friend made a goal!

Going through the tunnel that leads from the witch's cabin to the castle

Tavita hanging out at the cabin

Brayden sliding trying to escape the mean witch...aka his teacher

Daddy and Lei enjoying the festivities

Getting ready for the show

Singing away

Carrying out his little solo with pride!

Kalei discovered swings and she LOVED them!

Brayden with Miss Megan. He's sure going to miss her!

Mother's Day

I felt so loved and spoiled on Mother's Day. It actually started the night before thanks to Brayden. We had been out working and hiking all day (see previous post), did some shopping then headed home. I was totally pooped and while I was getting the kids ready for bed Brayden started giving me a foot massage. The following conversation ensued:
B: "Mom, you're a very special lady. You are beautiful!"
(This made me feel good because a few days earlier he wanted to pretend I was a "for-real" pretty lady like Hannah Montana)
M: "Really, you think I'm beautiful"
B: studied me for a minute then said, "Well, maybe if you combed your hair and tried to look beautiful, then you would be."
(He was darn lucky that I was completely frazzled and my hair was everywhere and I could have done a whole lot to improve my looks)
M: "Can't argue with you there. This feels so good, it's the best Mother's Day present ever!"
B: "This is your Mother's Day present, I got you flowers." his eyes got wide and he clamped a hand over his mouth, "Oops, I mean pretend you don't know that, when Daddy gives you them pretend you're surprised okay!"
M: laughing uncontrollably, "Okay, I will"
Junior gave them to me that night anyway and they were beautiful.
The next morning I got to sleep in and was woken by two cute little boys rubbing my head and softly saying, "Happy Mothers Day Mommy". Brayden gave me his present he made at school (he had been hiding it under his bed all week and would tell me to close my eyes so he could pull it out and look at it then put it back). It was a cute card with his footprint then a flower pen and notepad.
A few minutes later they came up with a big box and card with a recorded message of the boys. They had gotten me a magic bullet with all sorts of attachments. Then Junior came walking out with a cute black dress and on the hanger was a strand of real pearls. I about had a heart attack until he told me he'd gone with our neighbor and they stood in line forever at Goldsmith Jewlers who were doing a promotional and giving them out. It was so sweet that he went through so much effort and saved me from having a heart attack about the $$$ spent. Apparently the boys thought long and hard and picked out the Magic Bullet and the dress.
I went downstairs to a delicious breakfast (I'm not a breakfast in bed person, I like being down with the family) and we were off to church. Junior then let me take a nap while he made a yummy bbq rib dinner.
I felt like a queen all day and am so grateful for my 3 beautiful children that bring me so much happiness every day. I'm especially grateful for their handsome, superstar daddy who is my rock!
A couple random photos that have nothing to do with Mother's Day
One day we were cleaning up dinner while the kids played and Bowzer ate his dinner. We looked up to see Kalei sitting there with Bowzer's dish in her lap and the both of them chowing down on the dog food. I busted up laughing and they both paused and looked up at me like "What's so funny" then continued about their business. By the time I got the camera she had set the bowl down but still makes me laugh. Am I a bad mom that I didn't stop her until I got the pictures???

On Tuesday we went to a place called Pirate Island which is kind of like a Chuck E Cheese with a pirate flair to it. While we were there Brayden kept saying he had "germies bitting the top of his feet". I thought he just had an itch so didn't pay much attention to it. We got home and he was getting ready for bed and said he was really itchy. He took his clothes off and he was HEAD to TOE with hives. We gave him some Benadryl and rubbed him down with some anti-itch cream and had him sleep in with us so we could keep an eye on his breathing. He slept fine and never woke up through the night but when he woke up in the morning the hives had turned viciously red and looked so painful. I gave him some more Benadryl and they died down a ton. I just kept him drugged up all day and by night it was just down to red spotting over his body and by the next day it was largely gone. We can't figure out what caused it. He had eaten at Pirate Island once before and gotten the same thing. He and Tavita shared both the pizza and the drink and Tavita didn't have anything. They don't really have a play area where he would have been crawling and rolling around, it's mostly just arcade games. We thought through everything we could and had our neighbor take a look at it, we're still not sure what it was. We're thinking he either had a severe allergic reaction to a bug bite or Bowzer picked up some poison ivy up at the canal behind us and rubbed it on Brayden. Brayden is positive the pizza "poisoned" him so he may not have any desire to return to Pirate Island any time soon.

Bridal Veil Falls

Now that we're finally done with our house (well pretty much), we have made it a family goal to get out and discover Utah. One thing I have to hand to this state is that they have GORGEOUS mountains and the best part of it is there are loads of hikes just 10-20 minutes away. We decided to kick start our discovery of this grand state by "hiking" to Bridal Veil Falls. We see the falls every time we drive through the canyon and I remember hiking it as a young girl. The boys were beyond excited for the hike for the entire week (Brayden even opted out of a birthday party to go) and were rearing their heads bright and early in the morning. After suffering through an eternity of Daddy and Mommy working in the yard they were practically floating to the car when we finally said it was time to go.
Turns out there was an avalanche several years ago that severely damaged the hiking trails. So the hike turned out to be a leisurely 5-10 minute walk on a paved trail. The falls were very nice but they boys did not accept that as the hike. They were dead set that we had to head off the beaten path in order for it to count as a real hike. We continued down the paved trail (it's a beautiful trail that meanders all through Provo and up into the mountains) until the boys got a glimpse of a sorta kinda trail through the trees and asked if we could follow it.
Junior and I thought they would go up a short ways then want to come back down. WRONG! Those two are a couple of mountain goats. The trail went from an uneven dirt trail to just a bunch of rocks but they could hear a waterfall so they kept going. Brayden led the way. Junior followed with Bowzer, then Tavita (who never once complained even though he was using all fours to get up), and Kalei and I behind him (it was very obvious that I'd been out of commission for the past 2 months, but I held my own). Turns out there was a waterfall, and the boys were elated. They were sure they had made a discovery and were standing where no man had stood before. Brayden's only complaint was that he wished he were a dog because they can climb so much better (we let Bowzer off and he was going all over) and they're allowed to go in the water)
I LOVE that my boys have such an appreciation for the outdoors and find so much joy in hiking. While we were on the paved trail they mumbled a bit but the second they were off exploring they could have walked all day. Brayden did the entire hike to and from the car with only a 10 min ride in Daddy's pack. Tavita got pretty pooped on the way back and rode in the pack. He was like a animal severely lacking some nutrients. He kept using the back of Juniors sweaty neck as a salt lick, it was pretty nasty yet all so hilarious.
Of course we ended our day of exercising and enjoying the outdoors with some fatty burgers, fries, and shakes!
Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure. They're in no particular order, I HATE the way blogger does photos and couldn't be bothered to order them all and comment on them.



















After a day of working and hiking a nice long bath was very much in order!

Weenie Roast!

We purchased this fire pit a couple years ago and it has been well loved and used. The boys love using this thing rain, shine, snow. They look forward to our roasts for days. We had our first "warm weather" roast a couple weeks ago. Wasn't exactly warm but tolerable enough to actually eat outside. The boys roasted their hot dogs then continued to roast marshmallows along with anything else the could find to throw in. True boys, absolutely facinated with fire!
The Shum men wrestlin up some grub!

Lei Lei wasn't quite sure what her brothers were so excited about but enjoyed the evening outside out nonetheless!

And She's Off!

That's right, our baby girl has officially entered the world of upward mobility. For weeks now we've been waiting. She goes from sitting to standing no problem and will even bounce up and down; yet the thought of actually moving those little tootsies scared her. We'd always get in front of her and try to act real excited to get her to come to us. We succeeded a little too well. She'd get so excited she'd instantly drop to her knees and bolt to us as fast as she could.
Today we were having a little picnic in our front yard with our neighbor and good friend. The three of us (me, my mom, and neighbor Rachel) were just sitting chatting while the kids ran amuck. Rachel had some cheese in her hands and apparently Kalei wanted it. She felt no pressure since there was no one on the other end acting like a monkey on a major caffeine buzz so off she went. She was standing next to me and the next thing I know she took one, two, THREE steps without a second thought. We all got so excited she thought she'd repeat her accomplishment for us and took a few steps back in my direction.
I called Junior who of course was way bummed he missed it. As soon as he got home we tried for another round to no avail. She just went back to crawling whenever we called her. She's no dummy, she knows it's fastes if she just crawls. So, we'll wait. Hopefully, sometime soon, Junior will be sitting back and Kalei will feel pressure-free enough to take some more steps for him.

Funny note to end on:
The boys had a VERY active day. They ran and ran all day long, in the house, out the house, around the house. At dinner this evening Tavita ate about half his dinner and announced, "I want to go to bed now." Climbed down from the table and dissapeared. We just figured he wasn't wanting to finish his dinner but we were wrong. Sure enough when we went to find him a few minutes later we found him dead asleep. He had tucked himself into bed and read himself a book and was done for!

My mom leaves tommorrow, back to reality of not having a 3rd parent on hand.

Only in Utah....

...does 60 degree weather make for an ideal day for running around in the sprinklers in your underwear!
The boys were out playing in the yard with our neighbors while my mom and I watched from inside. They had turned on the hose to rinse their hands. Next thing we know they have the sprinkler going full blast with shirts off. Had I been a good mom, at this point I would have said, "No, it's too cold, turn it off." But instead I said, "Take your shoes off so they don't get soaked." They interpreted this to mean, "Strip down to your unders." Had I been a good mom at this point I would have said, "Enough, clothes back on and hose off." Instead, I grabbed the camera and snapped some beauties of them having the time of their lives in the ICY and I mean ICY water.
"Attack the water. I am not it's prey!"


Into the icy depths goes Tavita

Brayden taking it on

Not to be shown up boy the boys, Emma proved a girl could hang too!


While running around in their freezing bliss, Carson (our neighbor boy/the boys' brother from another mother) picked up a bat and flung it to get it out of the sprinkler. As he did so, Brayden ran right into the line of fire and got this humdinger of a goose egg on his head. A week later he now refers to it as his "chicken egg" because it's no longer big enough to be a goose egg.
These pictures do it NO justice. You could see his bump before you could him when he turned a corner.



While the kids were turning themselves into ice cubes, Bowzer continued his day long battle with this cat. He/she decided to make our house it's home for the day and was very friendly toward the kids. Bowzer was a different story. He constantly hissed, batted at, pounced on, and chased Bowzer. Did Bowzer get a clue he wasn't wanted, of course not. He thought it was the greatest game ever and loved having a playmate.


After the festivities, Brayden took his favorite little sister for a cruise. She thought he was pretty cool for doing so.


Tavita was so tired out from all the playing he couldn't even stay awake to eat dinner.


Junior brought home a giant box from work. It has been the source of much entertainment for the boys. A few days ago I handed them some markers and told them to decorate the box. Brayden apparently thought I said "Tavita" instead of "box"


Today was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Sunny, clear, and warm. We spent the day getting stuff done and just enjoying the fact it was nice enough to be out. We were eating lunch outside and Kalei played in her exersaucer. She was completely content babbling away when she suddenly let out an excruciating scream. We looked down and there was a wasp, yellowjacket, hornet or whatever (I can't tell those things apart) crawling around on her stomach. I swatted it out, picked her up, and sure enough there was a red welt forming on her thigh. She screamed good and hard for 5 minutes or so but thanks to some ice, tylenol, and a cigarette (for the tobacco to make a paste and take the sting out not a smoke to calm her nerves) she was back to her smiley self again.
Shortly before

Shortly after (She's one tough cookie!)


Brayden has been begging the past couple days for me to dig out his sunglasses which I packed away last summer. I pulled them out and he transformed into Mr. JoeCool fo the day.