A 12 year old!

I know I say it each year and at every birthday but really..... why do they have to grow up so fast.  This young man just turned 12! This is such a big milestone. I still haven't accepted that he's 12 yet. He's now part of the YM program at church. He's looking forward to his 1st ever mutual night this upcoming week. He's going to be gone for a whole week this summer at Scout Camp. He's being ordained a deacon at church this Sunday. Next Sunday he'll be passing the sacrament for the very 1st time. Oh how I wish I could take pictures of him passing the sacrament wearing his very first brand new suit his Grandma and Grandpa Heaton bought him.  

Birthday Boy!

Each of his siblings bought him something that her really likes. 

Emily gave him a box of Lucky Charms cereal. 

He's been asking me to get him some dill pickled flavored sun flower seeds.

Kylie gave him a 1 lb bag. I wonder how many baseball games this will last through? 

Brayden gave him a box of microwave popcorn. 

Madelyn gave him a bag of his favorite candies, Amond Joy and a can of silly string.

He's 12 and for a few years now we've told our kids that we would consider letting them have their own electronic device at age 12. Hunter was thinking we'd let him buy one with his money he's been saving. Instead we gave him one. It does come with a contract that he had to sign. It explains the rules of the device. For instance it is to stay out in the open. He's not to take it in his room or siblings room. It goes off at 7 pm each night. He does not take it to school. He has also been asked to memorize one church song a month on his cello to keep his privilege of having his own tablet. On Sunday's he's to use it appropriately, no gaming or reading regular books. He can use it to read up coming Sunday lessons, read the New Era, plan a family home evening, etc. He's heard us talk about having a contract so nothing was really new to him. He's excited!

Besides the tablet we gave him a Star Wars lego set along with new baseball pants and an under shirt for his uniform. He loved it.

For his birthday he asked for an ice cream cake. I made my 1st ever. It wasn't very pretty but we all seemed to enjoy it. 

Hunter said it was pretty good and asked for a second helping. 

Happy Birthday my young man!

Cement

Our future shop is coming along quite nicely. Kory had the footings dug in just a day in a half. He then went back to Alton for the week. This past weekend he came back to us and he spent Saturday and most of Monday leveling the lot. He was hoping we could pour concrete that wed. The kids and I spent most our day Monday helping him. Tuesday I dropped all the kids off at school and began my 2nd day helping. 12+ hours later we had done the underground plumbing, put the re-bar in and made the base frame to keep the cement where we wanted it. It was a very long day. I slept good that night. 

Wednesday as planned our 1st of 4 trucks full of cement arrived.

A friend said it looked like a drunken sailor did the rebar. Being I did most of it by myself I told him I'd take that as a compliment.  

I'm really not sure how or why the re-bar isn't straight. Once Kory showed me what to do it was pretty simple. Just a little time consuming and not having done it before I was slow at it but.... I did it!  

Kory had 5 guys to help him. The 1st pour was by far the hardest as the truck couldn't reach that far. The guys had to shovel and rake the cement over to the footings and that back area. They got a good ab work out. 

When the 2nd truck had arrived I went out to help. Moving wet cement is not easy! I'd like to think I lost 10 pounds that day. Regardless it was a good work out and I was so sore by bed time. 

When both sides were poured they removed the center board which leaves a little bit of a hole that needs to be filled. In Heaton style Uncle Kirk put Hunter on the trowel to help with this part.  

Hunter's job was to fill the hole with more wet cement while he smoothed it out. 

Madelyn wanted a turn too. 

It's hard to believe this shop will be 1800 sq ft. That's about 10 ft. longer then the shop Kory's in right now. It's also bigger then our house in Prescott.  

Just looking at the slab and now being able to walk on it, it doesn't seem to be that big! Kory says the slab needs to cure for a few day's before we do anything else. Looking forward to the reprieve. It's been a long 3 day's!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday! 

Our Easter Bunny is pretty practical and consistent. For several years now the kids always get a new book and new socks with a few candy filled eggs. This year Easter Sunday fell during General Conference. I asked the Easter Bunny if he'd include a little something more for the kids to use/play with during conference to help keep them quiet and listening. 

The Easter Bunny came through. Hunter received a new book, a package of socks, and 3 new rolls of duct tape. Hunter loves making things from duct tape. He's made wallet's, purses for his sister's, i-pad covers, and much more. 

Madelyn received a new book, socks and glitter pens she used to take notes during conference and doodle around with.

Emily also received a new book, socks and a sticker dress-up play scene. The stickers were removable so she could change outfits and place them in different spots. 

Brayden received a TMNT book, new socks, a bubble wand and 2 super hero figure's. His new Iron Man watched all of conference with this little guy. He helped Brayden keep his hands busy but his ears open. It was great. 

As with everyone else Kylie also received a new book and new socks. Her quiet toy was play doh and some new utensils to play with it.  

A week before Easter Sunday we stopped reading from our Book of Mormon and read passages of what Christ did and the things that happened to him during his last week on earth. The church has several 2-3 minute videos on their web page that went along with several of the passages we read. Sometimes watching the stories play out on video after reading them really make the message stand out. The kids can understand them a little better. I'm so thankful for the opportunity we had this week to learn more about our savior and the sacrifice he made for each of us.

Easter Egg Hunt

The city of Hurricane each year puts on a grand Easter Egg Hunt. This year only age 8 and under were able to participate.

Every once in a while Kylie wakes us up in the middle of the night with a really high fever. She moans and groans and is just restless all night. In the mornings she'll sleep in an extra hour or two and when she gets up the fever is gone. No throwing up, no diarrhea, no rash just a little ornery through out the day. At one time I thought it only happened when she was teething but this little girl is almost 3 now and has all her teeth. I've mentioned it to the doctor and have been told not to worry about it unless we can't get her fever to break. It takes a few hours of Tylenol and Popsicles but we've always been able to get that fever to break.  The night before the Easter Egg Hunt Kylie had one of her fever episodes. I was going to leave her with Hunter but she didn't sleep in like usual and flipped out! Not wanting Hunter to have to deal with her temper tantrum I brought her with us. 

She was ornery and really didn't want to participate. She just stood there looking at the candy. I was finally able to coax her into picking a few pieces up and putting them in her basket.

Madelyn took Brayden to his hunt spot and kept her eye on him for me. 

He was either pretty quick or there was a ton of candy. 

His basket was so full that candy was falling out as he walked back to the van.

This was Emily's last year participating. She was thrilled with her candy stash! 

It's hard to believe my children are getting so big that they are too old to participate in these kind of activities anymore. I felt bad for my older 2 and wanted to do something for them but just didn't know what. Later that afternoon I got a text from a mom in the ward. She was putting on a older kid (10+) Easter egg hunt with a twist. It didn't start until 9pm. We brought candy and eggs for her and her husband to hide. When the time came the kids were given glow sticks and using flash lights went on there egg hunt. She had eggs all over her yard,the empty lot beside her and up the little hill. Many of teenagers from the ward showed up and even the local missionaries. I wanted to stay and watch but had the little ones at home to put to bed instead. Hunter and Madelyn went and had a blast. They hope she will do it again next year. So happy this mom found a way to celebrate in a way that the older kids had fun too.  

Easter Break

My kids were out of school the Friday before Easter and the Monday after Easter. 

Friday afternoon when the kids were tired of playing and starting to get on each other's nerves we boiled some eggs and started to dye our Easter eggs. 

Madelyn drew pictures with permanent markers before dying her eggs. 

Kylie loved the pink dye. So much that her little hand was pink for a few days afterwards.  

Brayden loved this! 

Even Hunter wanted to play. 

When the eggs were dyed and drying the kids wanted to start eating them already. 

Perfect afternoon activity!

Grandma and Grandpa Heaton

Two Sunday's ago we received our weekly letter from Grandma Heaton asking that the family keep her in our prayers. She was having some health issues. The next thing we new we received a message from her home ward bishop saying they were returning to the states from Latvia on a medical release. This past Thursday our family along with Uncle Kevin's family and Aunt Tonya and kids went to the airport to welcome them home. There flight was suppose to arrive at 9:45 pm. 

It didn't get here until 10:17 pm.

Uncle Kevin, Emily, Alisha, Kylie and Madelyn peering out the window watching for the air plane.

The plane has landed. We are on our way downstairs to the terminal.

The excitement! 

Earlier in the day my girls made a welcome home sign.

They're here! 

Hug time... 

So much fun to see each other. 

Due to the lateness of the hour Grandma and Grandpa came to our house to stay the night. We were pretty lucky to spend time with them for several hours the following day before they headed home. Grandpa Karl told many stories of the people in Latvia and how they live. We are truly blessed to be born and live in the United States. We have so many blessings that we take advantage of every single day and don't even realize it. 

The people in Latvia shop almost daily for their meal's. Food over there spoils very fast! Grandma and Grandpa have to wash their food in bleach water before eating it. The majority of the people do not have transportation, they walk everywhere. They don't have oven's or stoves, microwaves or crock pots. They use hot plates. Many of the homes have an outhouse inside their home with their water well just a few feet away outside. This is why the water is so contaminated over there. Most homes are just one big room the size of our typical bedrooms. The parents sleep on the couch and the kids sleep on the floor with blankets. Everyone has a cel phone but both parents work 12+ hours a day. They make/live on about $400 a month. Children run the streets because parents are always gone. Families don't have meal times together or family home evening. Most members are 1st year generation. There isn't a Primary or YW/YM program. Grandma Heaton was made RS President and tried teaching and implementing visiting teaching. They are sad that they had to leave. They really hope that after a few tests that Grandma is scheduled to have all will be well and they can return to finish their mission. 

April Fool's

I love April Fool's. It's a fun, silly, harmless day to play tricks on my kids. This year was a little different though. My kids decided to play tricks on me too!

After everyone went to bed and were sound asleep I did something I have never done before. I wrapped their bedroom door entryway with saran wrap. In the morning Madelyn walked through her's, Emily saw it just in time so missed out on the experience. Hunter didn't have a chance. Both girls were standing by his door calling him out and giggling. Knowing something was up he very cautiously opened his door and saw what was awaiting him. 

I heard Madelyn get up a little before 6 and make noise in the kitchen. Knowing she was up to "no good" I let her have her time before I came out so as not to spoil her surprise. 

What a yummy looking breakfast! I love her little note to sign if we tried her breakfast. 

She had a peach on top of sour cream for an egg. She stuffed my yummy, sweet berries with toothpaste and filled a glass up with cream. She took a water bottle and poked the upper part with a pin several times so that when you squeeze the bottle to drink little streams of water would get ya.

When I left to take Hunter to school Brayden was the only one still in bed. They talked him into drinking the glass of milk. Poor kid! 

While I was gone someone had also turned all my pictures upside down, 

wanted me to believe we had a rodent issue and

had put a spider on top of Brayden's pillow in the family room..

Little trickster's!

This year's April Fool's I had to come up with new stuff. Something I hadn't done before. So along with the saran wrap the night before I also put one drop of food coloring on everyone's toothbrush. It dried over night and when they began to brush their teeth the next morning they quickly discovered my trick.  

April Fool's was a busy night for us. We had baseball practice, Emily's choir performance and scouts. Knowing we were going to be busy I decided to make my meatloaf mashed potatoes. I was in a hurry so didn't even die them this year. My 3 older kids remember this from a few years ago so they didn't fall for it but Brayden was fair game. He saw me bring the pan over and immediately was sad that I used white frosting and had no sprinkles. He jumped right up and ran to the cupboard looking for sprinkles to add. 

After prayer and before he dumped his sugar load of sprinkles on top. He saw the other kids dish themselves and realized they weren't real cup cakes after all. His look was priceless! The older kids missed our "tradition"  of the past few years of having a mystery dinner. I told them this year I chose to play our even older "traditions" on the younger kids since they hadn't experienced them yet. Over all it was a great, fun filled, surprising day!

1st 5K

Several weeks ago while taking the kids to school we heard an advertisement for a upcoming Hog and Jog 5K. During the advertisement they went on and on about how the best and really only meat you get from a hog is bacon. This quickly brought up a discussion of how "stupid" these people were. My mom works for the Utah Pork Producers. Attending events that my mom has held and over hearing many conversations relating to pork my kids think they are quite the experts on pork and the people on the radio were clearly ignorant on the subject. As I was dropping each child off they all told me I needed to call my mom and let her know about this big event coming up and that she needed to "teach" them. When I told my mom about this she and her boss decided to participate as vendor's passing out pork jerky and educating people about pork. Being a vendor she was given a few free registration's for runner's. My sister, Hanna, Madelyn and I decided to run. None of us have ever done something like this before.

Several weeks before the big event Madelyn and I started to prep for this. We ran, walked, limped and dragged ourselves over a mile around the neighborhood 2-3 times a week. I decided after several weeks of this that I really do not like running! Maybe it was the cooler weather, the wind or allergy season but I hate the sniffling, having a runny nose and ears that hurt when we were done. But we kept at it until finally our big day arrived. 

This was a race that most of the fee's and donation's were given to a homeless shelter. This was a fun run, not a timed one. 

We ran with bacon and pigs!

The race took place at the old airport on the tarmac. It was perfect weather, no wind and warmer temps. The best part was that it was all flat with no hills. Something we really struggled with in our neighborhood. 

Every so often during the race their were selfie station's offering a moment of shade.

  There were also several stations set up with water and of course bacon. 

Another selfie. Probably the worse picture ever!

We did it. Madelyn really struggled that last mile but with Hanna's and mine encouragement we succeeded. 

Despite this not being a timed race, Hanna timed us with her stop watch. All 3 of us stuck together and made it in just under 40 minutes. We definitely weren't the 1st to cross the finish line but we weren't the last either. All participants were given a medal. The theme of the race was "bringing home the bacon for the homeless". We were given bacon before, during and after the race. I'm glad we did it! Participating in the race gave Madelyn and I something to do together and many one on one opportunities.  There is a mid-night glow in the dark 5k coming up in May. We are contemplating participating in it too. Although I really, really don't enjoy running I do enjoy spending time with Madelyn. Now that she has completed her 1st 5k she thinks the next one will be bit easier and she knows what is expected now.