Camping out, inside and walking

We decided, with all the rain we have been getting, we should go camping, indoor camping that is :). The kids had a lot of fun.

Here is Kenna in her chair. She was probably the least involved the whole night, so I thought I would get a picture of her so we know she at least watched the boys enjoy themselves.

This is our tinfoil dinner. Nothing too exciting,we cooked them in the oven, but the boys were very curious about why we were wrapping up food this way. We had lemon pepper chicken corn and cheesy potatos.
We showed them the dinners all wrapped up, and they were even more confused. But I think they were mostly excited for a change in the daily routine.
While we were waiting for dinner, Tyson, Owen and Gavin went upstairs and we made a tent/fort for them. They sat in there with the lights out and a few little flashlights and they had a blast. In fact, since that night, Tyson and Owen will only sleep in the fort.
Here is our dinner, all prepared. It tasted excellent, I think we will do this more, even without it being a campout. The boys ate it all, even Gavin, and he has been picky lately.

Here is Gavin eating happily. He was having a great night.
Tyson and Owen made short work of their dinner.

For dessert, we made teddy graham s'mores. We let the boys cook their own marshmallows, then we put them between the teddy grahams with a chocolate chip. The candles were just small leftover candles from a pack we bought a while ago.

They actually cooked up better then we thought they would. A little bit black most of the time(and I hate burnt marshmallows), but they were small enough they tasted great.

I helped Gavin with his. He had a lot of fun, and even did some of them almost by himself.
Tyson and Owen got to do their own s'mores, and they did a great job. Sure, they ate more than they actually cooked, but it was all about having fun.

What campout, even indoors, would be complete without a roaring campfire? Thanks to a mac app and a connection to the tv, the boys sat around the fire and we sang songs, told stories and read some of their favorite books.

We sure did have a lot of fun. I dont know that we will be camping outdoors any time soon (maybe clint can with the older boys) but it sure was a fun family night. The best part was the kids were in bed by 8 and we toasted marshmallows and watch a movie.

On a side note kenna has been walking now for about two weeks. she is getting really good at it but here is a little video of her walking at the beginning, she can go all around the room now.

Graduation

It was already official in December, but Clint was able to participate in his graduation ceremony at Utah Valley University. We weren't sure if we would be around for his graduation, but with the economy the way it is, we are still here. Even though it was a long ceremony, it was so nice to celebrate Clints great achievement. He earned a bachelors of science in Digital Media. We have some pictures and a short video of the ceremony for everyone who was unable to attend.

There are two parts to graduation, commencement and convocation. Convocation was first, where Clint actually walked and got his diploma (case). This is him entering with his Digital Media friends.

This is a video I got of him actually walking. I wanted to get pictures and video at the same time, but I only had one camera to do both, so I couldn't get everything I wanted. This was basically the best part of what would be a 4 hour ceremony.

Here he is walking off the stage. It was hard to get everything.

This is him going back to his seat after he walked. That is a copy of "Oh the places you'll go" under his arm. He got that from the Digital Media department.

This was Clint walking into the commencement ceremony. There were not as many chances/reasons to get a lot of pictures during this ceremony.

He finally spotted me in the crowd. It was kind of hard to find each other at times.

We decided to walk around the campus and get pictures in some different areas, and some of the places Clint will always remember from campus. The pictures outside aren't great because it was a terribly windy day.

The fountain outside. There must have been a lull in the wind, because Clint's robe isn't flying all over the place.

We found a family who took a picture of the two of us outside. Otherwise, the rest are all of just Clint. Not that I wanted my picture taken!

Amber was so great to watch the kids while we went to graduation. After the ceremony, we got a family picture with Clint in his cap and gown. The boys thought daddy was in a silly outfit, but they loved trying on the had and medallion. It was a good end to a good day. We are so glad he is done with school, and look forward to finding a job and moving into the next stage of our lives.

Easter

Easter was so much fun this year. Tyson and Owen understood more about the holiday this year, and got very excited for the big day. Gavin usually follows his brothers, so he would get excited about it too. The only downside is that our church was at 8 in the morning, so we couldn't just wake up and hunt for eggs, we had to wait until after church. Im sure that just helped to build the excitement for them. They were so excited to see their easter baskets when they got home, they could hardly stand it. I couldn't get much of a picture before they ran in.

Tyson, Owen and Gavin were very excited about their baskets. Kenna seemed happy to be by her brothers, but not so much about the basket. The boys were just ripping through the basket. it was fun to watch them be so excited.

Here is Owen with the loudest toy we bought, the whistler. They loved them, we got annoyed with the sound after a few minutes.

Kenna playing with her giraffe. She loves that little thing. The rest of her basket, it was kind of a wash.

I'm not sure if Gavin knew what everything was in his basket, but he was happy he got so much. What a cute kid.

Tyson was most excited for his punching balloons. He kept trying to blow it up himself since we kept telling him we would do it later.

I'm actually really surprised they sat long enough for Clint to get a picture. It didn't last long, but they were very cute.

Here is a video Clint got of them getting their baskets. Clint has been obsessed with getting video with his new camera, so you will probably see more of this in later posts.

After we got their baskets, we cleared them out and went Easter egg hunting. They were so cute getting their eggs. I love seeing them when they have a surprise. Here are the pros, Tyson and Owen.

Gavin did a good job keeping up with the boys. He kept yelling every time he found an egg. Luckily we did this later in the day, so we didn't disturb our neighbors too much.
Here is some video of them getting eggs. Tyson and Owen were told they had to let Gavin get some eggs, so they could only get 10 eggs each. You can hear them counting and discussing how many eggs they had and how many more they needed.

Jody was nice enough to let us come over to her house for an Easter dinner, so we were happy to go and see family. The boys love to play with their cousins, plus they got to hunt for eggs again. Here are all the babies. They were so cute, and even though it doesn't look like it, they had a lot of fun.

Here are Tyson and Owen checking in during the egg hunting. They have to see how each other are doing. It was cute because Tyson didnt get as many eggs as everyone else and owen was so concerned that owen and I did another round looking for eggs for tyson we found 12 more so it was a success.

We forgot our baskets, so Gavin kind of struggled using his impromptu basket,but he wouldnt let me carry it for him, he was happy to do something new, plus he got candy. There were no complaints.

Here is video of the egg hunt. It was such a fun time, we love to see the kids just be happy and so excited.

The boys enjoy themselves at Jody's house. They play with cousins, eat yummy food, and they always get to play on the trampoline. They got a kick out of jumping high and playing around on it. They were so cute that I had Clint get a few pictures.

They also loved the tree house. They really didn't know what to do in there, but they had fun climbing up and pretending. We have been trying to get them to use their imagination more, giving them dress up clothes, having them act like they are doing different jobs, and its been fun to see them do it outside of the house.

6 years and family pictures

Wow 6 years where did that time go. although sometimes I think we have been married for way longer. We have so much fun together and clint always keeps me guessing. I was lucky to marry someone with so much love and so much talent. I cant wait to see what the next year brings.

We have been wanting to take some family pictures for a while now, its been about 6 months since the last time, and we wanted some change on our picture wall. Clint was still getting used to his new camera, and they didn't turn out as clear as we had wanted so they are a little grainy but I really like them overall. The kids were pretty good, and they all got good poses, and thats more important.Here is our family picture.

The kids even did good on their own. I was impressed to see Kenna not crying, even though she does not look comfortable.

Tyson and Owen were so good for their pictures. They are at that stage where they like to have their pictures taken. Tyson is such a big boy.

Owen probably loves to be in front of the camera more than anyone else. He was so happy to get his own picture taken. What a smile!
Sometimes it takes some convincing to get Gavin to sit still for a few seconds. He also likes to pull cheesy faces. He did a good job here, he is just so hard to reign in.

Kenna was hard to get only because you can't really set her down on a tree root by herself. You don't see the hands all around her, hoping she doesn't fall over. She was very happy to get so much attention though.