Only in Utah...

While I was making dinner tonight Ethan said, "Mom, while we were playing wall ball at school a fifth grader said the "s" word."
Me: "Really? That's not good."
Ethan: "and he also said the "s-h" word."
Me: (????) "So what exactly is the "s" word?"
Ethan: "you know, stuuu"
Me: "Stupid?"
Ethan: "yeah"
Me: "What is the s-h word?" (should I ask him that?)
Ethan: "shuutt"
Me: "Shut up?"
Ethan: "yeah mom"
Me: "Don't hang around that kid anymore--he's BAD!"

Just Kidding! I didn't say that! I just laughed inside. Ohhh, if he could only stay this pure forever!

We are never moving.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours...

Halloween 1/2 Marathon...

I just got this picture of me from the race off the racing website (I know, I look like a babe in all my gear!) It was cold (can you tell?). The race started at Aspen Grove (above Sundance) and ended at the Riverwoods in Orem. I was prepared for the weather--6 layers on top, 2 pairs of gloves, two pairs of socks, and a hat. I thought I'd warm up and shed some layers but I was cold the whole time. One girl that I passed along the way was wearing a tank top and shorts. I'm sure she thought I was a whimp.

Happy Halloween!

My camera battery went dead, so here's the only picture I got. Ethan and Ry. Caleb was a fireman and Ireland was a wizard. I think my sister got some, so I will post them when she emails them to me.

We had a great Halloween! I ran the Halloween 1/2 Marathon with my sister Brit. It was great! I beat my 1/2 Marathon personal best from my college years! I placed 5th in my old lady age group. Ok, so a good portion of it was downhill, but still...I'm almost 39 years old! I can barely walk today. The downhill is a killer on your legs! Brit beat her time from her last 1/2 Marathon by 20 minutes. Way to go!

Later we went to a neighbors for a soup fest with the rest of the neighborhood and then Scott took the kids trick-or-treating. Ethan was sick so he stayed home with me and handed out candy. We had over 250 trick or treaters. We actually ran out of candy. Who has 250 trick or treaters?? Luckily a neighbor brought us over 3 more huge bags. So now we have enough candy to last us a few years. If you ever need a chocolate fix--head on over.

A few pictures...

Here are a few random pictures of a monkey and two boys whose mom needs to lay off a bit on the gel...

And here is the birthday boy!! Ethan turned 7 this month! He's growing up way too fast! It's breaking my heart!

Here is his favorite present. Shocking...I thought he'd like the books or the clothes best!

It's been a while...

Life has been too busy lately! Not much time for blogging, I'm doing much funner things like unpacking, cleaning, organizing, straining my brain to decorate a house, and setting up utilities. It's a blast. I shouldn't complain, I'm just happy to be moved in. We love it here. Love the neighborhood, ward, schools, family close by, mountains, sun, sun and more sun. I have been able to run outside every day this summer (in warm beautiful sunny weather I might add).

Here's what we've been up to...

Scott has been busy at work. He loves it. His schedule is rough at times, but it's been worse. His days off and weekends are great. We pack in all we can on those days.

Ireland just finished her last soccer game of the season. Timo (brother in law) was the coach and I was the assistant coach. We lost every game. Yes every game. We did score 2 goals though. I told the girls that if they scored I would give them $5. So the good news is that I only had to fork over $10. I remember clearly my first soccer season when I was 7 years old and my dad coached my sister and I and we lost every game. That same team my dad coached for several years and we went from the worst team in the league to the best team in the league in 2 years. We won tournament after tournament and were the state champs several years in a row. So...there's still hope...

Ethan on the other hand had a great soccer season. He scored in almost every game. He scored 4 goals in one game. He loves school especially since his cousin Cy is in his class. They would spend every minute together if they could.

Ryan is also in class with his cousin Micah. He has been learning a lot in preschool this year. In fact, he is learning to read. At the back to school night for his preschool, his teacher told us (the parents) that our kids may be more tired, have tantrums, etc... because they are really stretching their brains and teaching them a lot each day. We have seen signs of this...Ryan has nightmares several nights a week. One night he came running down the stairs to our room screaming. I asked him what was wrong and he said in a panicky voice, "I had a nightmare, the "C" was chasing me and it was saying "Ca, Ca, Ca"".

Caleb is fast becoming a little boy. No longer a baby. But he still won't give up his blanky or his bip (aka pacifier). He's a champ at throwing tantrums, especially in Target. He will lay on the floor and scream at the top of his lungs. It's a fun time.

That's about it. I will post pictures soon. Ethan's birthday was a couple weeks ago, and I've had some requests for pictures of the inside of the house, so I will get to it.

Moving Recap

We are finally in our house. Yeah! It was a rough road to homeownership...let's recap...
sold our house in February
moved into a rental for 3 months
moved to Utah--searched for house for months
the truck delivering our stuff was wrecked, damaging most of our belongings.
Scott's car broke down--was in the shop for 6 weeks, didn't arrive in Utah until 6 weeks after we did, then broke down again the day after it arrived (total cost to fix $10,500--but luckily under warranty)
Megan's car battery had to be replaced (only 2 years old)
tried not to overstay our welcome (which I'm sure we did)...
stayed with Scott's parents
stayed at Sara's house
stayed at Brit's house
stayed at my mom's house
retarded lender told us for 9 days straight that we would close "that day"
finally closed and moved in!!

We love our house and are vowing never to move ever again. I will get back on track to blogging and posting pictures soon. Just have a few more boxes to unpack.

Summer of Swimming...

We did a lot of swimming this summer and spent a lot of time with cousins!

Ethan learned to dive and went off the high dive for the first time.

Ireland and cousin Savannah
Ethan, Savannah and Matt
Cousin McKenzie made a slip and slide and entertained the crew. (Ryan, Ireland, Ethan, Cy and Elle)

Gardner Village

Love this picture of Caleb and Ethan

The crew plus cousin EmmaIreland and cousin Avery

Mini???

We went to Iceberg for a shake at Ireland's request. I ordered 2 mini shakes for the 4 kids to split. (Ryan and Caleb are usually good with just a few bites of ice cream.) Here's the mini size... I said to the cashier, "Are you sure these are minis??"... Yes, he was sure.

Notice how you can barely see Ethan around the "mini" shake. Is it a wonder many Americans are fat??

20 Year High School Reunions

Yes we are 38 years old! I can't hardly believe it! I still feel like I'm 20 something! We had a great time at my reunion. Here are my friends from high school that I still see regularly. Don't they all look great? I was impressed that most people looked pretty good and have aged nicely.In the picture above...me, Shalmarie, Laura, Tricia, Heidi and Nicki

The next night we went to Scott's 20 year reunion. It was a lot of fun too. Pictured above is Scott's long time friend who lived right across the street, Dorian (and wife Stephanie) and another long time friend, Dave and his wife.

Here are some of Scott's friends. I think they went to school together from elementary on.

We finally purchased a house!!

Here is Scott and my mom (our realtor) at the house we are closing on in 2 weeks. Let's hope all goes well. We haven't had the best of luck with the house hunt, but after 10 offers and several months of looking, we finally found the house we love.

Catching Up...

It's been a busy summer!! My blogging has been scarce. Here are lots of pictures of what we've been up to in June and July. We've had a great summer so far...We hiked the "Y". Here's Ryan on the "Y".

Scott and Caleb on the "Y".

Ethan was a trooper. He hiked all the way up without complaining (I think that's a first). Ryan and Caleb had the exhausting job of being carried all the way up.Here's the muscle man that carried Ryan and Caleb up the mountain.

Little Ry Ry looking very innocent.

Ethan flexing his muscles--they are so big, I couldn't fit them into the picture.

Chad and Bren blessed their baby Olivia while they were out in Utah. Ireland couldn't get enough of baby Olivia. She is a sweet and easy baby! We wanted to kidnap her.Ireland and Savannah--two peas in a pod.

Scott, Ryan and Caleb (and Lance) in Durango, Colorado for our family vacation.

Family picture by the lake where we stayed just outside of Durango.

Handsome Ry Ry with two big mosquito bites that caused his head and eye to swell.

Ireland and Ethan

Ryan made friends with a little wood man in Purgatory. (Lauren in the back)

Ireland and Ethan on the bungy trampoline in Purgatory (this place reminded me of Park City--we went on an Alpine Slide there too)

The family in Mesa Verde checking out the Indian ruins. Lance and Steph got everyone matching shirts in the flattering color of bright mustard. There was about 35 of us wearing this shirt that day. When the Hackings went on trips long ago, they wore similar shirts so Doug and Janet could keep track of all of them. So we had to keep the tradition alive.

Ryan, Scott and Caleb at Ireland and Savannah's birthday party.

The cutie birthday girls and Ryan. They turned 9 a week apart.

Limbo...

Another update...we are still in limbo waiting for our house to close. We have been having a great time in Utah. The kids LOVE their cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents and have been spoiled seeing them every day, vacationing with them, going to movies, swimming and sleep-overs. I will post pictures soon!

Vagabonds...

Just a little update...
Being the creature of structure that I am, I am a little out of sorts right now. We are in the midst of getting ready to move in 2 weeks so we sold most of our furniture and next week we are loading the truck with what's left. I feel like we've been in the process of moving for the past 6 months. January we got our house ready to sell. We sold it in February. Moved into a rental house in March. Went to Utah to find a house in April. Went to find a house in May. Moving in June. Hopefully we'll find a house in July and be in it in August. I don't ever want to move again. Luckily the kids have been great and Scott is worry free. If I could just sleep at night instead of mulling over the houses on the market, life would be better. We'll keep you updated.

House Update

Here's the skinny on the house situation...we are 0 for 6. Yes, we've made 6 offers and had no luck! The housing market is ridiculous right now.

House #1--great house, near train tracks that haven't been used in years, found out city is going to revitalize the tracks to use for the Trax system. We pulled out of that offer
House #2--owners decided to rent it instead of sell it and hope the market gets better next year so they can sell it for more
House #3--waited 1 month to find out there was a lien on it that can not be taken off for some reason, so it cannot be sold. Note: It was built at the end of 2007 and has never been lived in
House #4--next door to house #3, has been sitting unoccupied since 2007, found out our offer was accepted while I was on the runway flying to Utah to look at houses again because nothing was working out. Pulled out of the offer because after looking at houses again we realized it was priced too high for the market
House #5--looked like we were going to get an acceptance then they decided to try to refinance.
House #6--Bank owned, won't take anything less than what is owed even though the realtor said the appraisal won't support the amount owed.

I think we are in the lead for the worst luck buying a house. Actually, it seems lots of people are in the same boat. The market is crazy. Good thing we have a couple of tents and some sleeping bags.

I think the plan now is to rent for a month and try again once we are out in Utah to find a house before school starts. I'll keep you updated.

Month of April...Ryan and Caleb's Birthday/Trip to Utah/Zoo

Caleb, Ryan and Alyssa's birthday party...


Birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa Hackings with lots of cousins...

Great Grandma Mae with Ethan and Ireland. She is 94--can you believe it?

Another party for Ryan and Caleb's birthday...

slightly less extravagant cake... All tuckered out and sleeping with his sword (just in case).

Fun at the zoo with the Hancey's...