Slip 'n Slide

We gave Ethan a Slip 'n Slide for his birthday and Courtney has been dying to try it out. She asked Ethan this morning, when it was 60 degrees outside, if we could use it. He didn't care, Courtney and I set it up in the backyard. Boy, Slip 'n Slides have come a long way since my day! I remember them as being a plastic runway that you sprayed down once-in-a-while so you would be able to slide down it and hit the grass at the other end. I always had green knees when I was finished. But now-a-days it's high-tech. Ethan's has a hose attachment which fills a tube on one side with little holes in it so the slide is continually watered. It also has "air bags" at the end of the slide so you don't hit the grass. It was impressive. Courtney wasn't sure how to play on it at first, but she warmed up once I grabbed her hands, put her on her belly and pulled her down the slide. When Ethan saw how much fun she was having, he changed into his swimming suit to join her, but thought it was too cold. That only lasted a few minutes before he was running and sliding like a pro! They had a lot of fun and our lawn got an unexpected watering. Courtney played on it for quite a while but Ethan got cold and quit after 15 minutes. Courtney started using the sprays as a drinking fountain toward the end. She wants to play on it again in the afternoon. I guess it was a success!

Vacation to Denver

We went to Denver for the Memorial Day weekend. We left early Friday morning. The kids were so excited to be going that they both woke up at 5:30 a,m. so we were able to leave earlier than expected. The drive to Arvada was pretty uneventful and the kids were really excited to be there. We all went to dinner (us, Grandma and Grandpa, Andrew, Lisa and Mike) and Courtney insisted on sitting by Grandma. Ethan kept telling the waitress that he was also a new graduate. It was cute.

Saturday the boys went golfing and had a great time. Ethan went with them and became the ball boy when someone lost a golf ball. Ethan wasn't allowed out of the golf cart which actually made it much easier to golf because Bryan didn't have to worry about him getting into something.

While the boys were golfing, Courtney, Grandma and I did karaoke on Grandma's karaoke machine. Lisa, somehow, slept in a recliner through all the noise. Courtney loved it and we had a lot of fun.

When the boys got home, Grandma, Lisa and I went to have some girl time. We had pedicures. It was awesome and so relaxing. I hadn't had one before, but we were pretty pampered.

Everyone was pretty relaxed and having a good time after the morning, so we ate lunch and went to the APEX swimming. Courtney is fearless and kept going down the kiddie slide, which went really fast. Ethan played around on the slide too. Then everyone decided to go down the big slide and Courtney couldn't get enough of it. Ethan figured out how much fun it is to go across the logs and spent most of his time showing up the big guys by carefully going across, over and over. It was fun.

Sunday was a challenge because Church was in the afternoon, but we made it through by reading stories and playing games. Ethan did a great job by going to his Primary class without a fuss. I think it helped that Andrew promised him a toy afterward if he would go peacefully. Courtney, on the other hand, freaked out and wouldn't let go of me. Grandma offered to stay with her, but had to go after the first hour. So Courtney spent Relief Society with Lisa and me. We weren't very reverent and didn't get much from the lesson, but Courtney kept us laughing.

Monday morning, we went to the Train Museum in Denver and the kids loved it. They climbed all over the engines and had so much fun watching the model train run. Ethan and Bryan did some pretty funny pictures. (Courtney kind of ruins the effect, though.)

In the afternoon we went to the Elementary School to feed the ducks. There were some geese there too and they all had babies. It was fun to watch them and feed them. It started to rain while we were there, but no one really cared. Then the kids played on the playground.

Monday night Courtney had Grandma paint her fingernails and toenails because she felt bad to have been left out when we got pedicures.

Tuesday morning we left for home. It was a long drive, but it wasn't too bad. Ethan watched an old "Hardy Boys" video twice, for about 2 1/2 hours each time. Courtney listened to it and took a bit of a nap. We were pretty happy to be back home. But we had a great time in Denver!

Kindergarten Graduation Video

Here are some videos from Ethan's Kindergarten Graduation. The first one is the song "I Like School." They did a great job.

Here's the alphabet song and Ethan's speaking part.

This is the "Hippopotomus" song.

This is "Little Red Box" and has cute hand actions.

This is a song Ethan told me was "to make all the moms cry." It was the closing song, called "I am Special." It is a beautiful song.

This is when he gets his certificate. He was so excited!

Ethan's a great kid!

Kindergarten Graduation

Ethan has his kindergarten graduation today. He was pretty excited to graduate but not to wear nice clothes to school. He wouldn't ride the bus this morning because he was "embarrassed" that he would be the only one in nice clothes. I drove him to school and then he wouldn't get out of the van because he was embarrassed. There were a lot of little girls in dresses but he didn't see any boys. After a few minutes of trying to coax him out of the van, he noticed one of his friends who was in a tie. That made him feel better and he jumped right out. The first picture is Ethan with his teacher, Mrs. Clayton. She's great.


The kindergarten did a little program and then they put on their graduation caps and had their names read one by one. It was really cute.

He is definitely the first born...he knows how to pose for a picture!
The next picture is outside his elementary school. Tomorrow is his last day of Kindergarten and he will go to meet his 1st grade teacher. All the kids are divided up into their classes and then they go to the classroom they will have next year. He's nervous and wants to stay in Kindergarten forever, but I think he'll be excited tomorrow when he sees who will be in his class next year. I just hope he gets a great teacher again!
I will try to post the videos I took of the songs they sang. They were cute!

Ethan's "Real" Birthday

Ethan woke up ready to go to church. In our Primary, the children get a CTR ring for their birthday present from the presidency. Ethan was so excited to get a CTR ring. It also comes with a free scoop at Golden Spoon, but that doesn't seem to be as cool to Ethan as the ring. He did a lot of "6 year old things" this morning. He buttoned his shirt on his own and was doing a lot of other things without help. It was great.

After Church we had Ethan's family birthday party and his chosen birthday dinner. He wanted homemade pepperoni pizza, so that's what we had. Then we had his cake. It was a bomb with sparkler candles for the wick. It turned out pretty well. It was hard. for him to blow out the candles because they kept sparking back on but he finally got them out.

He then opened all his family gifts and began playing with all his toys. He had a great day!

Ethan's Birthday Party!

Saturday was Ethan's friend birthday party. He wanted a detective party so Bryan and I went all out to invent games and a mystery for the detectives to solve. We made up an invitation asking the secret agents to come to special training at our house, complete with a password for entry. Ethan was so excited that all day long he kept asking when it was time for the party.

When the secret agents arrived, we fingerprinted them, took their mug shot and then made them an ID card to hang around their neck. Courtney wanted one too.

While I did their ID cards, Bryan showed them and trained them on what was in their detective kits. They had an invisible ink pen, decoder, flashlight, disguise kit with sunglasses and mustaches, notebook and pencil, and a bunch of other detective things. They picked up on the decoder and the invisible ink pen really quickly and had a lot of fun. Then they all went into the backyard and went through disguise training where they had to put on a disguise and run down the lawn and back in a relay. Then they had to go through an obstacle course where they attacked a punch bag at the end. It was tons of fun for them.

While they were outside doing their games, my parents and I hid Ethan's presents. I printed out certificates of completion for their detective training and Bryan handed those out when the games were finished. Then the real fun began.While the boys were getting water, I put a note (written in invisible ink) on the floor where the presents had been. Then Bryan asked the guests to go and get their presents for Ethan to open. They were shocked when the gifts were gone but saw the piece of paper and realized they were on a hunt for presents. Ethan grabbed the paper and immediately ran to his detective kit. He got out his invisible ink pen and they saw the clue. The clue was a poem and sent them to the house of one of Ethan's guests. Like a flash the boys were off on a mystery! I ran behind them and Bryan rode Ethan's scooter to catch up.

They ran to a neighbor's house where they got a clue written in tiny letters. They had to use their magnifying glasses to read it. That clue sent them to another guest's house.

The third clue told them to put on their mustaches, go to another house, knock three times, and say the code word "molasses." They looked so cute in their mustaches!They ran to the Primary President's house and she had the final clue to send them back to our house. She opened the door with her own mustache on, the boys loved it!! I'll put a video on of her clue because it's great (you may have to turn the sound up).

The boys all ran back to our house and in the backyard was a table with Ethan's cake and birthday presents on it. We lit the candles, had cake and ice cream, and then Ethan opened all his presents. The boys all had a great time.

We took Ethan out for a birthday dinner. He got to pick anywhere and he picked "Old McDonalds." He just wanted the Speed Racer toy.

Nose Splint

As an update: Bryan is doing well after his nose surgery. He said the day after surgery that his nose felt the same way it had the day after he broke it. He didn't get black eyes or anything. Early Saturday morning I clocked him in the nose with my elbow while sleeping. He wasn't too happy about that and I felt horrible, but he's fine. We had a debate about how long the nose splint had to stay on. The discharge instructions from the hospital said it should stay on "for as long as possible." Bryan replied that, "It is just not possible for me to go to Church with this on," and he took it off Saturday afternoon. But his nose looks great and he said it doesn't hurt, so it was a success.

The Nose Job

Bryan went to the hospital today to have his broken nose fixed. He wasn't too excited about it and was even less so when the nurse told him to take off all his clothes and put on a hospital gown. Then she couldn't get his IV in, after telling us that IVs were her specialty. She had to try twice and the first one was pretty painful. We were to be at the hospital at 11:30 a.m. Bryan was quickly admitted and then we waited...and waited....and waited. The nurse told us that they were a bit off on their times and that it would be a wait. There was one patient already in surgery and another one in front of Bryan. She estimated that the second patient would go into surgery around 1:15 and would take about an hour. They finally came for Bryan at about 2:25. We went up to the surgery waiting where the nurse, anesthesiologist and doctor came in to talk to us. The anesthesiologist said he didn't want to have to put Bryan really under because he wanted to avoid a breathing tube. So he was going to "make you as high as I can" so Bryan wouldn't remember it but he wouldn't be totally out. I was really glad it wasn't me. I would have told them to knock me out!!

I went out into the waiting room at 2:53 (I remember because I used my cell phone to check on the kids and it said that time). At 3:15 the anesthesiologist came out and said, "Come with us, we are skipping recovery and taking him down to post-op." I went around the corner and Bryan was laying on the gurney and talking. This is when it got really funny! According to Bryan, "Anesthesia takes away your inhibitions." And it did!! I was so mad when I realized that I had forgotten my video camera!!!

We got into the elevator and the anesthesiologist turned to me and said, "He's a pretty funny guy." When the anesthesiologist got Bryan from the operating waiting room, he put something into his IV to make him feel good. When they got into the operating room Bryan asked them to hurry because he had some heavy chain saw work to do after his operation. In the elevator afterward, the anesthesiologist asked if Bryan remembered that and he did. Then Bryan just started cracking jokes. At one point in the post-op room he said, "I feel like singing show tunes" and started singing "Singing in the Rain." He kept asking the nurses to sing in four part harmony. He did get a couple of them singing and whistling the tune afterward.

The anesthesiologist said that he got Bryan pretty loopy and then Bryan was unconscious for about 30 seconds. The anesthesiologist had to breathe for Bryan twice (had to use the pump mask to blow air into his lungs) but he didn't have to put in a breathing tube or anything. And Bryan was awake quickly afterward, so it was great. The nurses loved him. He even got a sticker. He was in and out for about an hour in post-op and then they let us go home. He said that it felt like time would just fly by because he was still in and out of it. At one point, the nurse asked if Bryan wanted apple juice. He told her yes and then must have fallen asleep. She brought it in and when I pointed it out for him he didn't even remember her bringing it in.

He has a brace on his nose but looks just fine. Within about 15 minutes of being home he was checking work email and phone messages. And now he's in our home office working on documents. So much for getting some rest.

End of the Year Piano Recital

Ethan had his End of the Year Piano Recital tonight. He did a great job! He was upset with me at first because I made him change out of his grubby shorts into church clothes, but we got him to smile in the car on the way to the recital.

Afterward he was so happy that, although he made a mistake, he kept on playing. The piano was cool because he could watch his hands while he played. His teacher gave him a huge candy bar after he played. We took him out for ice cream after. Ethan loves to perform!

Courtney's Performance

Courtney is singing all the time and she loves to make up songs. But her favorite song in the entire world is "Let's Get Together" from the old Parent Trap Movie with Haylie Mills.

Courtney took her building blocks, built herself a stage and this is what happened (once again, you'll probably have to turn down the volume, haha):

Here's number two!

Ethan's loose tooth has been bothering him. Today he asked me if to look at it and tell him if it was ready to pull out. I figure that when a tooth comes all the way forward and lay on the gums with just a little red string-like thing attaching it to the gum, that it's ready to pull. My only request was that he not pull it in front of me.

Ethan went into the bathroom and about 2 seconds later I heard spitting. I asked how he was and he said it was out. He hasn't quite figured out how to aim when spitting so there was blood all over the bathroom. When we stopped the bleeding he was pretty excited that the toothfairy would be coming back to our house.

I still can't believe he pulls his own teeth. I just caught him trying to loosen up some more teeth. He wants to buy a snow cone and I think he figures that loose teeth are money makers ;)

Mother's Day

Here is a picture of my great Mother's Day breakfast by Bryan.

Fathers & Sons Campout

Bryan and Ethan went to the Fathers and Sons campout on Friday night. When Ethan went to bed Thursday night he wasn't sure what was going on with Bryan's nose. In the morning, Ethan was nervous that they wouldn't be going to Fathers and Sons but Bryan assured him that they would be going. It was a long Friday waiting for Bryan to get home from work. (Ethan has been out of school since Tuesday so it was a long week in general.)

Our ward goes to Pinto to the property of some members in our ward. There is a house there with a lot of land. So they just set up their tents and play around. There's a merrry-go-round and all kinds of room to play football. Ethan had a blast.

They went to bed pretty late that night and the next morning they were the last to leave the campout. Ethan wanted to stay longer but Bryan finally got him in the car. Here are some videos and pictures of the fun time!

The first video is of the merry-go-round and the area they are camping in. Ethan's in the orange shirt. The second video is of Ethan the next morning.

It's broken

It started off as a fun family outing. Bryan had soccer practice at the park for our ward team so we decided to all ride our bikes 1 1/2 miles to the park. We put the tag-along on the back of Bryan's bike for Ethan and loaded Courtney into the bike trailer attached to my bike. It was a fun ride and we got there in time for Bryan to warm up with the other men and young men. Ethan snagged all the balls that missed the net while Courtney and I played peek-a-boo and in the mud around the bleachers. We were having a lot of fun being outside in the nice weather.

Another church team was there practicing so the two wards set up a scrimage game. Ethan was itching to get into the game so about 3/4 of the way through Bryan let Ethan go in. Ethan really isn't afraid to get in there with the big guys. Here's a video of him playing. He's the short kid with blue shorts and a red/white shirt on.



After I took the video I wasn't really paying attention to the game. Courtney and I were playing peek-a-boo and so I had a blanket over my head. But I heard a voice say, "Michelle, don't worry about the kids and the bikes, we'll take care of everything. But you need to get Bryan to the hospital. He's broken his nose." I thought they were kidding. There wasn't any blood and Bryan was walking toward me just fine. But they assured me that it was broken and when I saw Bryan's face I knew they were serious.

Our next-door neighbor was on his moped, so another neighbor loaded the kids into his car while our neighbor followed him back to our house. The kids went to the neighbors house and were ready for a sleep-over. Courtney walked into their house and said, "Sister Dransfield, we're having a sleep-over and I'm sleeping in Jens' room!" Jens is their son who is a year older than Courtney. Then the two men got their trucks, went back to the park and brought our bikes back to our house. What great neighbors we have!

I took a picture of Bryan's crooked, broken nose at the park before it started to swell up. Then we got a ride to our house from someone, got an ice pack and took our van to the Urgent Care by our house. They told us they don't do facial x-rays and to go to the ER. So we drove across town to the ER.

There weren't many people there when Bryan was checked in. The admitting nurse asked Bryan if he had finally gotten too sassy with me and I had given it to him. He told her that he had stepped on a rake. After a good laugh, she asked what had really happened and Bryan told her an "elbow to the face during soccer." She told us to have a seat in an admitting room. The next nurse didn't get Bryan's "I stepped on a rake" joke and got a shocked look on her face when he said it. I had to quickly tell her that it was a soccer accident. We had a good laugh at that. Then we were told to go back into the waiting room until a doctor called Bryan back. We thought it would be a while before he would be called back so I called my parents and asked them to meet me at our house and I drove back to Ivins.

I picked the kids up from the neighbors. Ethan was releaved but Courtney wanted to sleep-over. But once I told them Grandma and Grandpa were coming, they ran to our house! I got the kids ready for bed, did our normal night routine and waited for Bryan to call. I was reading Courtney her story when he called to say he was finished and would be waiting for me outside the hospital. Ethan told me that he hoped Bryan wouldn't have two black eyes because Fathers and Sons is Friday and he was nervous they wouldn't be able to go.

I expected Bryan to look all strange when I picked him up with a sling on his nose or something, but he came out looking normal, except for his crooked nose. The ER doctor said that if they called an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor at the hospital to look at Bryan that Bryan would be told to wait 3-5 days for the swelling to go down and then go in and see the ENT doctor. So the ER doctor probed Bryan's face to make sure nothing else was broken, gave him an ice pack and sent him on his way. It was a quick ER visit!

So now, I need to call Ethan's Ear, Nose and Throat doctor and make an appointment for Bryan to see what he can do. Bryan's hoping the doctor can fix his nose and get it straight again. Ethan says he likes Daddy's nose crooked. He's just excited that they are still going to Father's and Sons tonight!

What an interesting family outing!

Happy Birthday Uncle Jeff

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

Trying to nap

Bryan was outside with Courtney trying to catch a nap, but I don't know how well he slept. Courtney loves cuddling with her daddy but she doesn't sit still for too long. It was cute.

Birthday Cake

The Primary President had a birthday party for all the kids turning 12 years old from last January through December. She asked me to do a birthday cake for them and here's how it turned out.

Ice Cream

Last Wednesday was 31 cent scoops at Baskin Robbins (thanks to Julie for the heads-up). I took Ethan and Courtney to get a scoop. They both ordered chocolate to take home to eat and before we even got into the car here's what they looked like: