iT's oVeR!!!

Yea!! Dax made it thru the first year of school! I can not believe how far you have come this year. When school started and you came home and let me know that you said "I told that lady flatout I can't read!" Wow - did he really say that? Yes, he did!! Now we are at the end of the year and you are reading, again I say WOW!!!! When I read on your report card that you didn't tell your teacher what the four coins were and what they were worth and your answer to me was, "I figured she knew, she asked all of the other kids - how many times does she need to be told!" All I can say is WOW! I just love your honesty and can't wait to hear what you will come up with next! I have loved taking you to school and picking you up at the end of the day and hearing EVERYDAY that school was good! That's all everyday....."How was your day? Good. What did you do today? Good. Did you learn anything new? Good!" That was the answer every single day of Kindergarten. I have loved watching you learn and grow and make new friends. You are such a good boy and a joy to our family. We love you!!! Dax and Mrs. Richards on the last day of school.



All the kids were able to go around and sign each others yearbook and signing shirt. Dax came up to me and said "I am so glad that my name is DAX I can sign way faster than Caroline." I am so glad that I was able to do something right for him!!! What a stinker!

His class playing Musical Chairs! Holy Moly this game takes a long time with 28 kids in the class!!

My friend Dylan M. At least he doesn't have to be Dax R for the rest of his school career!!

Dax and the girls! I think that Dax was a favorite of all of the girls in his class!

Dax and his buddy Maxwell (I found out thru Maxwell's mom, because my answer was - good) were teased by Jackson because they mostly wore collared shirts and dressed to nice. I think that they look great and if that is all Jackson can up with to tease them about I think they are A OK. I think they look handsome!! WE LOVE YOU BUDDY!!!

ThE SeASoN eNdER!

So it is the last game of the T-ball season and I actually think that Dax had a great time. I would say that he is not the most aggressive player by far, but all in all not to bad. I did after the first game have to bribe him a little because if the ball did not come right to him he would not go for it all. He told me that the coach told them to stay in their positions. I completely agree with that theory but of course if you do not actively move toward the ball in T-ball you will never touch it. So after the first game I told him that I would give him a dollar for every ball that he got and threw to 1st base. When Brian heard me tell this to Dax he thought that maybe I was feeling generous and a little rich. ( He missed the first game, he was out of town.) I assured him that he had nothing to worry about. The next game he made $4.00. Much better!!! So I thick we both won in the deal....he made a little money and I could stand to watch the game!!

Dax's swinging for the skies!!
I love a happy face! WATCH THE GAME- SO YOU KNOW WHEN TO RUN!!!
Dax with his medal! Always a favorite part of the year!!
This is the Red Cardinal team!
Dax's fan club! What a cute fans!!!

FriEnDs!

Trace and Avery right now are the best of friends or are beating on each other!! Dax had a birthday party at the pool and a parent was asked to come since there was no lifeguard. I thought a lot of help I am going to be since I would then be taking these two. But to my surprise they did really good! They just played and giggled in the baby pool for 4 hours! I love these days! I don't have a picture of Dax at the pool because I wonder if that boy ever comes up for air! What a fish!
This is just another day at our house. I think we get all of the costumes out at least once a week! I really don't mind that they like to play in them since I always think that they are overpriced. This is Avery's 18 month old costume and Dax's 4 year old costume! So with a little squeezing and some rolling it is practically the same picture that was taken 2.5 years ago!

This is when they are showing their muscles right before they attack each other! Avery will not like this game for to much longer - Trace can just about take her down every time now!!

WaTeRsKiINg!

Last weekend we were able to go water skiing with some of our friends. This is some of the troops ready to jump in! Avery, Kaila, Dax & Jayden. They had these smiles on the entire time. We had a great time and were so excited to go. We were stuck in construction for 2 hours on the way up to the lake and I was sure glad that Brian wasn't driving because I can not imagine the road rage! But we made it to the lake and the weather was great, the kids were great and it was a great day!!
This is Dax with what I think is the only sign that he knows! FASTER!!!

Avery and Kaila at their top speed!! Kaila was saying slower but I am afraid that we would have past them in reverse if we were to go any slower!! They were perfect tubing partners. We tried to have Dax and Kaila ride together but she didn't like his boating signals!

Trace parked himself right here in the back of the boat. I think he was wondering if the girls wanted to kick it up a notch? What a cutie!

Dax water skiing!! I love smile on his face when he is behind the boat! They had some fancy kid skis that in theory are a great idea but I wonder if they ever actually had kids try them before they mass produced them? The rope pulls from the front of the skis and there is no pull in the arms. So what happens is the skis get pulled out from underneath the poor sap and they can't ever stand up! The great thing about Dax is that he doesn't really mind crashing or being drug behind the boat! We are so luck to have him! I have a feeling that Avery may not have this same attitude! Thanks Knorr Family for inviting us to the lake!!

bAnDoN DuNeS!!

Brian made a trip up to the renowned Bandon Dunes last week with his good friend Brandon. Brandon's wife gave the trip to him for his birthday and asked if Brian would like to go with him. Brian never passes a chance for 3 days straight of 36 holes of golf!?!? I think he is crazy! I also wondered why when you live in AZ and people come down here to golf in April he went to the warm and sunny place of North Bend Oregon!!! So we pulled out all of his warm clothes and off he went. All of that aside he had a great time! It only rained on them for the first 18 holes on the second day.....which I hear is a record from what the group said that has been going for many year. So lucky them!? On the course there are no carts allowed and they are not very easy courses to walk so I was proud that Brian actually rented a pull cart which was much appreciated on the 15th hole of the first day!!! "Charlie" really got him there!! We are glad that you had a great time but we are really glad that you are home!! We Love you!
Brian and Brandon on the course!
This is one group that they played with. The guy in charge had an entire schedule worked out like they were playing their own little Ryder Cup. You can definitely tell who lives in Utah and who in AZ. Shorts.....it was not that warm! I think the warmest it ever got was in the upper fifties. So every one that lives, say in Park City, thought it was nice and warm, while Brian hasn't seen those temps in quite some time!
"How many times have I hit the ball already? I keep losing track with the sound of the ocean right there!!"

T-baLL!!

Dax is playing T-Ball this year and is very excited about it! At first I was a little worried that he would get my ball playing abilites but from the looks of the first practice he is already better then me. I have some scarred memories from the year that I had to play ball with Hailey and she had to take French lessons with me. I HATED T-ball!!! We were the only girls on the team and Hailey was actually good which only made me look worse. I think that I struck out all year (how do you strike out??) until the last game. I finally made a hit and started running.....what I and everyone else didn't know was that the helmet was way to big for my head. I ran to first and the other team overthrew the ball, so they had me run to 2nd, where the ball was overthrow again. So on to 3rd I went, as I am running, the helmet had rotated and I was now looking out of the ear hole!! To my surprise and probably on purpose, 3rd base missed the ball again and I was headed home! The first hit that I ever made and it was a home run!!!! The crowd was cheering and my mom was crying in the stands!! Her little girl finally made a hit and ran all the bases looking out of the ear hole! Just makes a mother proud! I also never paid attention to the game itself while I was out in the field, it was always dancing and picking flowers for me. I did catch a ball out there one but only because the ball fell into my mitt that was laying on the ground. I was also the kid that would throw that ball and still be the closest one to it, so I would have to run to it and throw it again, and again and again! So I started just running the ball in every time. I am sure that the other kids on the team just hated it when a ball came to me. Well I hope that Dax has other experiences that make me proud! So far so good!!
He was playing 3rd base this time. I love T-Ball because it really doen't matter where the ball is hit the entire team goes for it. GOOD LUCK DAX ON A GREAT SEASON!!! I will be proud no what the outcome!!

EasTeR EgGs!

This year we were invited over to decorate some Easter eggs at one of our friends houses. She is seriously crazy to have wanted our crowd to come over!! She works for Brian and she has no kids yet and after this day she may never!!! Actually it was not to bad, they were on their better behavior besides getting a little wild by the end of the night. Avery was very serious at decorating this year and Dax was in and out of the decorating scene. He thought that it was also fun to go outside and chat with Tobi's friends. Poor them! He thought that he was very cool!!
Of course by the end of the night Brian was playing Rock Band and the kids were just making themselves at home!! Dax played the drums also and was actually pretty good! I was impressed!

Anther favorite past time for Brian and the boys....eating a bowl of Doritos. I can't believe that Dax was not in this shot, when chips are around he is never very far!!

This is Avery, Dax, Tobi and her niece. Again, Avery looks very serious! Again, Dax is hangin' with the girls!! Thanks Tobi for having us over it was very fun and great birth control for you and especially Jeff!!

cRaFtiN' FuN!

EASTER!! Dax didn't have school the day before Easter weekend and all he wanted to do for his day off was to do some crafts!! So we did! We made bunnies out of Styrofoam and pike cleaners. We made a bunny candy house. Marshmallow bunnies, and tissue paper flowers!!! What a great day! The kids had fun and that is all that matters!
These are the St. Patrick Day crafts this year. We made green cupcakes, and then we (I) cut a shamrock out of a potato and stamped pictures. Fun times!!

a HiKe aGaIN!!

We we decided to go on another hike since the kids liked it so well. But it all started out wrong on this hike....the car is only parked by the fence that you can see. Avery and Trace were crying already , but Averys defence she did have a fever and didn't fell well, Trace felt fine just whiny!! After a while sick or not the kids had to walk!This bench was half way up on our hike and don't you think that the kids look like they are having a great time!?! We should do this more often - I can see the excitement in their eyes!!
We made it to the TOP!! It was really a kind of hard hike but kids did great! The lady next to us I thought was going to have a heart attack, honestly I was worried! She keep asking us if the kids really walked up the trail? It took all I could do not to say "Nope we had them helicopter in to meet us up here?" Some people are crazy! I will say that up was easier then down because it was steep.
It is mostly a race between these two to see who can be the leader. At least they are walking instead begging to be held!
I love it when they are actually friends!! They are too cute!

If you ask the kids it is more fun to play in the dirt and rocks!

bAcK wHen ArLeiGh cAMe

Who in the world wouldn't be excited to see these cheeks!! My kids were so excited when baby Arleigh came to see them! (They were excited to see Mason & Anna also but they have been replaced by Arleigh!) We were so happy that they made the effort to come and see us a few weeks ago! Avery had decided before they got here that Areligh was going to sleep in her room in "Twelve's" bed and she would push her in her stroller and hold her on the bench and it would be just great!! Well we talked her out of those things but she did get to hold her and love on her alot!!
Trace and Avery just could not get enough of her!! What a good little baby!! Too CUTE!! Poor Dax must have been at school when ever we got the camera out while holding Arleigh. Sorry bud!

We went to the mall and Trace LOVED these glasses! It was a real fight to get them from him, but he is to cute in them!

We went to Amazing Jake's while they were here and the kids had a great time. This a spinning ride so the big babies volunteered to watch the little babies!!

Our family on the Merry-Go-Round. Again Mason opted to take the picture instead!

This was at the mall again when Mason was encouraging the sunglasses for everyone. Can you even call them sunglasses? Does anyone really buy them? Who thought that they were a good idea at all?

This was a very intense train ride at Amazing Jake's! I think we are moving in this picture! That's my kids - that still at a worms pace think that arms up is how a ride should be ridden!!

Thanks for coming Mason & Anna we had a great time with you! Kiss those cheeks for me again! Love them!!