Ryleigh Anne Rhodes

I thought I would introduce you to our latest addition, Ryleigh Anne Rhodes. She was born August 6th at 11:08 PM. She weighed 7 lbs 5 oz, 19 inches long. The nurse at the hospital said she had a button on her bum; she's content as long as that button is pushed:) It has been fun to have a little one in the house again and I have more help than I can handle. (Yes it will be good when school starts again.)

We have been blessed with a great family and wonderful neighbors. We appreciate the support and love from everyone.

Cabin

We are not big vacationers but we have done more as a family this summer than the last three years combined. It is so nice to have the house done, the yard in and other major projects on hold. Of course once the baby comes our adventures will be of another kind.

We decide to venture off to Mom and Dad's cabin for the weekend. I love it up there. There is just something about being in the mountains that calms my spirit. We went on a pretty good 4-wheeler ride. Taylor drove with Jared and Dallin behind him and I drove Abby. This worked out well for this very pregnant lady. We went slow and easy.

That night we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the campfire. Abby decided that Hot Dogs are her favorite meal. I think it had to do the with ambiance not the actual Hot Dog.

Jared decided that I have been neglecting my duties as the family photographer and decided to take over. I try to carry the camera around but I forget most of the time and when I do remember the shots are not that great. Jared on the other hand is pretty good with the camera so I am including some of his shots.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Jared!

Jared is a really good dad. We are so lucky to have him in our family. This summer has been so nice to have him be able to do things with us. He works so hard and puts his all into everything that he does. He is gone to work before the rest of us even crack an eye open and he is usually the last one to bed. The very last thing he does before he goes to bed is to check on the kids and make sure they are tucked in.

For Father's Day, I took the kids shopping with me. Taylor found this black John Deere tee shirt that he knew that Jared would love. Abby made him a picture frame when we went up to Lava and for her present she wanted me to take a picture of her and Jared. It turned out really cute.

We love you Jared. Thanks for all that you do for us.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

We took the kids to see the Oquirrh Hills Temple Open House. The temple was beautiful and the weather was perfect. I love that the kids can go through the temple and feel the Spirit there. I hope it makes an impression on them.

We went with the Dabb family and enjoyed spending time with them and their cute family. After the temple we went to the Kennecott Copper Mine. Taylor worked on a Cub Scout Badge there and we learned all sorts of things.

We stayed the night at the little America in SLC. They have great weekend rates and if you book your room three weeks in advance you can't beat the price.

We spent the evening and morning swimming--which the kids loved. We had two queen sized beds in our room. The boys shared one and Abby and I the other. The boys are both snugglers and Taylor kept scooting towards the middle. Jared didn't get much sleep that night but the kids loved sleeping in a hotel.

The following day we went to the Clark Planetarium. Taylor being the science kids loved it but so did the other kids. We saw a 3-D movie on the ocean and it was fun to see the kids reach out like they could actually touch the fish.

Lava Hot Springs

We went on a fun camping trip with my family. We went up to Lava Hot Springs and stayed for a few days. This June was so rainy we were concerned about the weather but the kids had a great time regardless. Mom and Dad have 6 married kids and 20 grandkids—so far—and everyone was there but 1. We stayed in an old school house that had been renovated. It had several bedrooms and a big gym, a family room and a good sized kitchen. We more than filled the school house. Meal times were a little crazy trying to feed 33 people - three of whom are pregnant and the majority of the kids are under the age of 6.

We hiked to an ice cave, visited the old pioneer town Chesterfield, and went swimming at Lava Hot Springs. Jared and I really enjoyed touring the town of Chesterfield. It would make a great Youth Conference. It made me really grateful for our nice home. I can't imagine raising a big family in a two bedroom house with no indoor plumbing. I'm not sleeping so well these days but I was grateful for my nice soft mattress after sitting on the straw tick ones they slept on. The kids loved Lava Hot Springs, especially the slides. I wasn't even too bad in the rain. At least it wasn't crowded.

It was a good time. Everyone got along really well and the kids loved hanging out with all the cousins and just being “wild”.

Garden

Last year we had a normal sized garden but this year our garden is huge. (At least by my standards) We have high hopes of stocking the freezer and our shelves with some home grown produce. (We might be stocking the neighbors shelves too!)

Jared has spent a lot of time working the ground and planting. We have tried to make this a family project. The kids have been pretty good at helping but it really is a lot of work.

We have planted peas, beans, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, radishes, potatoes, corn, zuccuni, summer squash, pumkins, cucmbers, spaghetti squash, winter squash, onions, tomatoes and peppers.

Taylor's Baptism

Eight is such a big birthday. Taylor has looked forward to being baptized for such a long time. It is a huge milestone in his life. Lately his favorite family home evening lessons were about being baptized and being able to practice with Jared getting “dunked”.

We met at the church with lots of the family. Tiffany was in charge of the program and TJ talked. They both did a good job. TJ really is a very good speaker. Jared baptized Taylor and then confirmed him.
I am really proud of Taylor. He really is a good kid. Congratulations Tay!

Taylor's B-day Party

I let the kids have a Friend Birthday Party when they turn 5 and 8. We decided to wait a month to have Taylors and do an outside water party. Taylor made up an obstacle course. We filled water balloons, made a giant target, Grandma Sherry bought the kids some really cool water guns, and we made cupcakes.

Taylor and his friends had a really good wet time. They were good to let Abby and Dallin join in the fun. Taylor has some good friends. This was a great party idea--a little bit of water and the kids pretty much entertained themselves.

Dallin's Preschool Graduation

Dallin had two wonderful preschool teacher’s this year. Miss Angie and Miss Stephanie were so good with him. Dallin is a goer and sometimes has a hard time sitting for very long, (surprise surprise). They were so patient with him. I think that Dallin has learned a lot this year. His attention span has grown and he is a lot more willing to color and write than he was before.

I was sad to see him end this year but the graduation was really cute. They made graduation hats for all the kids and presented each child with their own award. Dallin got the busy bee award. He received a really cute book and lots of little BEE things. His favorite thing was a sack of marbles that were yellow and black.

Abby's Dance

Abby took Dance this year. She really loves to sing and dance. I've had to rethink time out in her room because most of the time she just turns on the music and starts singing and dancing--by the time that she can get out of her room she doesn't want to leave. She looked really cute for the Dance Review (a little too grown up for her Mom's taste) but she was so excited. She performed three dances and danced her heart out.

Taylor

Taylor turned 8 on May 5th. I really can't believe that my baby is this tall smart blond boy. He has grown up so much this last year. He still loves to tease and pester Abby and Dallin but also wants to hang out with the grown ups.

After waiting so long for a baby. Taylor was an answer to many many prayers. I think all those prayers must have infused into his spirit somehow because he has such a strong spiritual side to him. We choose stories every night and Taylor almost always chooses the Book of Mormon. We have read the kids version probably ten times. He prays with such faith. I sometimes wish I had his faith. I hope that he can hold onto this.

Taylor is very smart. He excels in school and loves to read. Of the three years he has been in school he has only missed 1 day. He makes friends easily and is confident in himself. He is also very good about seeing the positive side of things. This year in school for every hour they read at home they were able to put their name in a drawing for a bike. Taylor read so much. The last month of the contest he spent all of his spare time reading-literally like 3 hours a night. I really hoped that he would win the drawing just because he worked so hard but instead he won a book in the drawing. That night in his prayer he mentioned how thankful he was that he could win a book.

We love you, Taylor. You are a blessing to our family. It is privilege to be your parents. Happy Birthday.

More Easter Fun

Easter just isn't Easter without an egg hunt at the Grandmas houses. At Grandma Sherry's house the Easter Bunny was there. (Two cheers for the good sports in this world) The kids each found a certain color egg, and inside each egg was a special surprise from Grandma Sherry. She always puts so much thought into these things. She made the family breakfast on Saturday and Easter dinner on Sunday.

At Grandma Slater's house all the cousins met for Lunch. It was fun to visit with everyone. The kids outnumber the grownups by far. I think that is why to kids love it so much. The men went and hid eggs at Lindsey's house. They let the little kids go first and then the big kids. The mistake was to let Abby start with the little kids. She had so many eggs. Good thing she is a pretty good sport to share. I think we will have candy for months.

At our house we found our baskets after church. Our church is at nine and we have a hard enough time being to church on time with just our normal routine. I made up a scavenger hunt and the kids had fun finding the different clues. Abby's basket had the CD "Taylor Swift". She has been wanting that CD for months now. Taylor was thrilled with his kite and Dallin had "soft" bat and ball. (His last one got chewed up by Belle).

I was suppose to teach the combined Young Women on Easter Sunday. So I have been going through all of our music and movies to find clips of things that would add to my lesson. I am amazed at the insight of little kids. There is such power in their simple belief. They don't question everything like grownups do and they just believe. I wish I had so much faith.

Easter Egg Hunt

The traditional Egg Hunt at Easter time is a must at our house. It is funny how much hype goes into an event that lasts less than two minutes. The hunt is always at the school and I think that we have been there very year that we have had kids.

I dropped Taylor and Abby off at their designated locations and Dallin and I walked to his area. On the way we spotted the prized "golden" egg. I had do quite a bit of talking to get him to leave it there. We went to the line and the second the bell rang he went running clear across the field. I kept trying to get him to pick up eggs but no he beelined it for the "Gold" egg. He actually ended up with a lot of eggs.

The beautiful thing about this egg hunt is that all the eggs are empty. At the end you trade in your eggs for a prize, which are all the same. (Sanity for Mothers) And of course a special treat for gold eggs.

Dallin was so proud of himself for getting that egg.

The Living Planet

For several weeks the kids had been working on getting along a little better. We have this little problem of teasing (which I detest). The kids had to fill a bucket with balls of paper and the only way to earn a ball was to get caught getting along. Once the bucket was filled they would earn a special reward, which turned out to be a trip to the Living Planet.

We went over Easter break with Karrie and her boys. The kids were so excited to go. They had seen the commercial on TV many times. I knew that Taylor would love this but I was surprised at how the other kids reacted. Usually Dallin just wants to run but he was fascinated by things and would have stayed glued to the spot for hours if we would have let him. His favorite exhibit was the Salamanders. Abby was the brave one and touched the "Sting Ray" Taylor used his photography skills and caught everything on his camera.

This was a fun day. One that I would recommend but it was very crowded.

Art Night

At the kids school we have had the Science Fair, reading night, math night, writing night and now Art Night. Both of the kids were able to participate. Taylor's class put on a play and had video taped it. Abby's class put on a dance. All the girls put on puddle skits and everyone had a partner. I was pretty impressed that they could get that many Kindergarten kids to somewhat learn the dances. Abby loves to dance.

Little One

Last fall Jared was cleaning out some of our storage. We have a whole lot baby "stuff" that was taking a lot of room. He was making a DI run and thought it would be a good idea to get rid of some of the stuff we weren't using. We are now very glad that he decided to wait on that cleaning project.

Right after Christmas we made a "fun" discovery. We are going to have another baby. We took Taylor and Abby to the ultrasound with us and found out we are having a GIRL!!! Abby is so excited to have a sister. The kids have been really cute to pray for her. Abby is a little concerned about "getting the baby out" and prays for that every night.

It will be a change to go back to sleepless nights, highchairs and diapers. But we are determined to enjoy this baby. So far everything looks good and we are thankful for that.

Dallin

Dallin is so funny. I love this age. He is growing independent yet still need lots of help. He says the funniest things. Here is some of Dallin's thinking. ..........................................

One day during church Dallin had a little accident. So we jumped in Jared's car to dash home to change. He kept sniffing very loudly. When I asked what he doing he told me that he was getting all the smell out of Dad's car so Jared wouldn't know that he had an accident.

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In church they were talking about Dad's. When asked what was special about his Dad, Dallin replied, "When you jump off a cliff, he can catch you."

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Dallin came home from preschool with a note that said, "Jared, Good luck today, Dallin told us you are taking him on a gorilla hunt today after school."

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I love Dallin. I love the way his mind thinks. He loves to go and do. He gives the very best hugs and tells me all the time that he loves me. He will yell from his bed, Mom...Mom... until I come into his room. Then he will pause for a long time and then say I love you. After that he will go right to sleep.

Science Fair

Taylor really wanted to be in the Science Fair this year. We did a bit of research on the Internet and with Jared's help came up with a project. For three weeks we had over a dozen cups filled with different kinds of liquids and pieces of metal submerged in each cup sitting on the counter of the kitchen. Taylor was very deligent in checking his findings. I was nervous that rancid Coke or Vinegar would spill all over but he was careful. I had him take notes every few days and then I helped him type them up. It was a good learning experience for him.

Taylor put a lot of effort into this and in the end it paid off. He won first place for his age division. He was so excited. He even got his name in the newspaper.

Valentine's Day Wedding

We are so happy for Cody and Tara. They were married on Valentine's Day. It was a wonderful wedding and beautiful reception. The day was snowy and roads a bit hazzardous but a neat day. The kids were so excited to be a part of wedding. The boys all had pink shirts and ties on (which was cool with Taylor because Marshal, Tara's younger brother, was wearing one as well.) The little girls all matched and looked so cute. Taylor was able to serve at the reception and Abby and Brinley carried little baskets with napkins in them. Dallin loved to follow all the kids around and eat the refreshments. Congratulations to the newest Rhodes family.