Bike Rodeo

Well, the Cub Scouts had yet another fabulous pack meeting -- the bike rodeo!!

The kids got their bikes checked thoroughly to make sure they were safe to ride:

 

They reviewed all the safety rules and hand signals of biking:

 

And then they practiced their skills!  (and, are those mountains in the background beautiful, or what?!)

 

The kids had a blast.  And our WHOLE family enjoyed biking to the church together!

Do the Math

Can I just say that this boy brought home a jaw-dropping report card.  Not just straight A's, but straight 100% A's!!  What a kid!

He also received the "Friendliest Boy" Award, which fits.  :)

Yep - after adding it all up, I'm one lucky momma!!

ONE-FOUR!!

My Marissa is growing up faster and faster, it seems!  She had a rockin' birthday party on the day of her birthday - here are some pictures of her with some of her amazing friends:

Playing "Just Dance"  (Seeing all those guys dance was SO funny to me for some reason!  I couldn't stop laughing and had to hide upstairs for awhile.  :))

Pizza and snack zone:

Singing Happy Birthday!

Good buds:

Mario Kart Racing:

 

Hula Hooping.  I tell ya what - lots of hula hoops is a wise investment.  My kids and their friends ALWAYS pull them out to play ... Marissa, Aaron, AND Krystal.  Hula Hoops offer so much entertainment.  :)

They all did some piano playin' too.  (I loved that!)

TEN SQUARE!!!

They ended up in here playing all sorts of things ... mind games type stuff.  They are all hilarious.  Having them over was a blast!  Dee's got good friends, and I know that makes a huge difference in Junior High, so I'm very grateful.

Happy Birthday to my amazing daughter, Marissa!  I can't believe how the years fly by, and I am honored and grateful to claim her as mine.  She is bubbly and kind, funny and hard working, fabulous with kids and good at school, and just an all around terrific person.  I love you so much, Dee!

SF River 2011

With all the warnings about keeping your kids away from the river, we decided we better go check it out TOGETHER and see what all the hulla-ballu was!  So we loaded up on our bikes and went for a ride:

I love having this trail so close to our house.  It is so fun and pleasant to traverse down!

 

The river has come up clear under this bridge that we used to bike right through.  Yeah - it's pretty dangerous.  My kids were dying that I was making them get THIS close for a picture.  :) 

So pretty:

 

Here's Krystal telling us what's going on with the "SO HIGH!" river ... the poor, poor tree that's "getting fighted!" by all those "little waves".  ;)

Our little jaunt along the trail was very worthwhile ... my kids are pretty much scared silly of going there by themselves.  Crazy Utah weather!!

Shootin' With Gramps (May 2011)

What a beautiful, fun day!  Thanks Dad for always being there for the kids.  They all love you like crazy!!

 

Race For Red (May 2011)

Aaron teamed up with his grandma and grandpa and Aunt Kristy to run his first 5K!  He really had a good time.  We are all totally motivated to try it more often now ...er, uh - just TRY it initially, I guess.  ;)

It was a little chilly that early Saturday morning, but the sun was shining - and it was looking to be one of the first beautiful days in the whole month of May!

 

Stretching before they set out:

 

And they're off!!  (I was truly a dork to try to be with them right in the middle of the crowd of runners to try to take pictures ... sidelines, Michelle ... sidelines :D)

Aaron won a ribbon ... so did my Mom and Dad! ... but, Kristy came across the finish line first out of the 4 of them.  Aaron loved all the fun stuff at the end, and he even won a baseball bat and ball in the drawing. Super cool!

 

That day started off with a bang (literally) - when we backed out of the garage to go with the back of the car open.  SHATTERED the back window in our new car.  The kids all had a pretty good cry over it.  Tyler and I stressed, but it ended up not being AS big a deal as we thought ... and we were able to get it fixed first thing Monday morning lickety-split.  Hopefully, we've learned to keep that back door closed before attempting to leave ...

We seriously had hours of sweeping to do to get that mess cleaned up.  Krystal helped a TON in that area.

Anywho ... looking forward to a 5K in the near future for our WHOLE family!

Vocal Chords

Who'da thunk that a little thing like vocal chords could be such a big deal?

Back in February, Aaron lost his voice after having a pretty bad reaction to the chlorine in a swimming pool/hot tub.  He healed up fine, and then lost his voice again 2 weeks later.  He continued to come home from school with his voice completely gone about once every week.  Sometimes he would miss the next day of school if his voice wasn't hoarse, and sometimes his voice was fine by the next day.  But, in April, his voice would disappear more and more frequently and stay hoarse for longer periods of time.  So, we finally wised up and took him to the pediatrician. 

The pediatrician told us that "No, it is NOT normal for a nine year old to lose his voice that often."  (huh.  who knew?  ;))  He told Aaron to start taking allergy medication and to rest his voice for a week (no school, no playing, NO TALKING!!), and to make an appointment with an Ear/Nose/Throat Specialist if that didn't work.  Well, I'm here to tell you that keeping a 9-year-old home on unlimited video games and tv is more torturous than you would think!!  It's HARD not to talk (or whisper only) for that long.

But, Aaron did it.  He went back to school the day after his week was up, and came home with his voice GONE.  URGHHHHHHHH!  So - to the E/N/T we went:

Here is Aaron trying to control his emotions as he awaits the scope that gets to go right up his nose and down his throat:

Apparently, it is a little painful.  The doctor asked me if Aaron was extra loud (when questioning his scratchy/hoarse voice and continual loss of his voice), and I [honestly] told him that he is my most quiet child, and that he certainly isn't any louder than any of his friends.  Well.  Aaron than proceeded to sob louder than I could possibly imagine during the initial part of this procedure.  Uh -- nevermind -- he is VERY loud!!  haha.

 

And here is a beautiful picture of Aaron's vocal chords.  They are a little red and swollen up front, but mostly in back.

 

Pretty cool lookin', huh?  I tell ya what - technology is amazing.

So, Aaron was told to keep taking the allergy medicine,  avoid extra loud talking/singing/noise making for a couple of months, and was prescribed an antacid.  He had some acid build up which was causing most of the inflammation in his vocal chords.  Weird.  I know.  BUT - he hasn't lost his voice since, and it has been several weeks.  I can't imagine him not having his cute singing voice, and hopefully he'll be singing again soon too!