In February we found a new place for Sarah to take riding lessons at Fire Fly Equestrian Center. We don't know if we'll do it long term, but she enjoyed it so much in Mississippi we wanted to let her do it again. They have shorter lessons for younger kids so Steven has had a couple lessons as well.
Here are some pictures from their first lesson. Steven wanted to "go fast", so one of the girls got behind him towards the end and let him trot for a while.
Sarah rode a sweet horse named Ginger. She's a sweet old lady that is reliable and steady. Her instructor had her do a lot posting and standing which left her very sore the next day. (A good sign) During her second lesson Ginger didn't feel like trotting so she literally walked her for 45 minutes.
Yesterday they put Sarah on a new horse named Fame. Fame is younger, more responsive and faster. Towards the end of the lesson he started going a little fast and when she tried to get him to stop he put his head down quickly and she went over. After catching her breath she got back on and walked him for a few minutes. She hurt her wrist, but she is determined to get back on.
Yesterday we took the kids ice skating at the Olympic Oval in Kearns. Sarah's riding group was having their a potluck get together there so we got to enjoy some good food and company. Although we took Sarah ice skating when she was three or four this was our first time with all three. It was a lot of fun!
Adam was hilarious! They had little "walkers" kids could push around the ice and once he got the hang of it he became Mr. Independent. He wouldn't let me hold onto it and even though he fell a lot he got up again time after time like it was nothing. I think being so close to the ice made his falls a little easier to take.
Steven was a real trooper! He fell A LOT, but he never quit. He complained of hurting various parts of his body, but he wanted to keep going so he could get better. I think watching the Olympic ice skaters helped inspire the kids, because everyone had to start somewhere. I taught him how to twirl around and he did it over and over again even though it usually ended in him falling. His clothes were wet at the end but he enjoyed it.
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Sarah was more cautious than the boys and started out with literal baby steps. She and I held hands for a few laps and by the end she was doing great. Shortly after this video I tried to show off by twirling around and ended up on my back. Thankfully Mike's camera was already put away. :)
That post title might be a bit of an exaggeration, but Mike and I drove past our lot yesterday and found out they started digging the hole for our house. I literally did a happy dance outside my car. (thankfully no one saw me) Here is a picture of the lovely dugout.
I know a hole isn't a lot to get excited about, but we weren't expecting them to start for another week or so. Hopefully this means they'll finish early. (wishful thinking, but there's a slim chance it could happen)
Last Saturday we got to celebrate six wonderful years with our little Dude.
For our kids birthdays we let them choose what we eat throughout the day. For breakfast he chose pancakes shaped in the letter S. We also let them be "in charge" for the day, which is something Steven let go straight to his head. He was quick to remind us that he was in charge so we had to do what he said. :) Lucky for us all of his requests were reasonable.
I let Steven pick his theme for his party and he went with Minecraft, his new favorite game. I showed him some party ideas I'd found online and he decided we needed ALL of them.
Steven the Creeper and Mike the Steve
Here are some of the decorations.
We chose food that fit in with the theme. Instead of a traditional cake Steven wanted one that we saw online made from rice crispy treats (my first time ever making them) and brownies Sarah and her friends made without my help.
The goodie section with gold, diamonds, redstone and TNT
Green slime, yellow apples, carrots, torches, bread and cole
Goodie bags w/homemade pickaxes
For games we made a Creeper bean bag toss game and after playing outside they all took turns playing Minecraft. I tried to say no electronics, but it wasn't my party AND Steven was in charge so I had no say in the matter. :)
The boys zoned out
Next we sang Happy Birthday and opened presents. Steven was in Lego and boy toy heaven.
Here are the kids singing Happy Birthday. The lovely, loud voice singing is Sarah's friend singing in French. :)
This Nerf gun was one of his favorite gifts
Steven is an absolute joy. He's really funny and has a perpetual smile on his face. (unless you find a way to upset him)
He has a vivid imagination and after he tells a story we have to ask him if it was real or fake, because he's a definite one upper in the story department. At bedtime I've started a game where I let him tell me a real and fake story and I guess the real one.
He loves Legos and we've been really impressed with his ability to put complex sets together. He has a great sense of spatial orientation and sometimes we find that he's right and we're wrong when it comes to putting sets together.
He's a great brother. He doesn't get the chance to play with his sister as much as he'd like, but he takes great care of Adam. Now that Adam is older they can do a lot more together and Steven has shown him how to build all sorts of weapons with their various building sets. :)
We love our Dude and are grateful for every energy packed day we get to spend with him.
The kids decided they wanted to play basketball this year. Sarah was on the fence until she found out you get free tickets to a Jazz game for participating.
As I was writing this post I realized I didn't take enough pictures of them playing. They both played with kids their own age.
We arrived promptly at 9 AM for Steven's last game only to find out that it had started at 8 AM. (there goes this years "Mother of the Year" award!) Thankfully we caught Steven's coach on his way out so we could get his trophy and pictures.
Thankfully we made it to Sarah's game. Sarah was a timid player, but she worked really hard on her dribbling throughout the season and had a lot of fun playing.
On March 10th we all get to the Jazz game together. Mike still can't get the kids to sit down and watch a game on TV, but we'll work on it. :)
It's April 2018 and I'm getting ready to have my blog book made. As I go through old pictures I love finding gems I missed before, or that maybe in 2014 I didn't think merited their own post. Here are some of the fun, random pics I missed.
From January 16-19th Mike was able to go on his first oceanic training mission as a pilot with the Air National Guard. Instead of going somewhere challenging like the desert, or even somewhere run of the mill boring, their unit went to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. Four days of flying airplanes and playing on the beach doesn't sound too rough to me.
Here are some of the pictures he took. Some of the activities he did while there included touring Pearl Harbor, snorkeling, watching surfers on 30 foot waves and I'm sure relaxing.
Here are a few pictures of the time spent working. They got to taxi out behind a group of F-22's.
Pictures from his long walks on the beach and snorkeling
Pictures from the USS Arizona. I would love to visit here someday. (Hint hint)
Random picture on the price of milk. Our gallon a day habit would really add up.
A few weeks ago as per tradition Mike and some of the other new guys pranked a senior officer by wrapping his desk and everything around it in wrapping paper. They went to great lengths to make sure small items, including pencils were meticulously wrapped as well. Before they all left they signed official forms stating what all their license plates were so the maintenance guys would know their cars would be parked long term. When they got back all of their cars had been wrapped like this. Durfey didn't lock his, so he also had a car full of thousands of packing peanuts.
As Mike likes to say, thank you to all the hard working taxpayers for paying for this trip. Next time I'm hiding in his luggage.
