4th of July

Nothing like running the races in Salina to really make it a true 4th of July. I should race farther than the 50ft we try with the potatoe sack, but the kids LOVE this day, and truthfully as hot as it might be, so does the Mom :) Foot races for each age group, sack races, greased pole, more races at the pool, and the coin dive to follow, BBQ at Grandma Birds with food fun and family, and then cap it all off with the highest candy-to-float ratio of any parade you've ever seen.... whew, what a day! Thanks Grandma Bird for still putting up with us invading your space and following us to the races even at 89... we love you!!

Cutest Grandma's Ever!!

Memorial Day Weekend

To kick off the summer before life got so crazy, we took the kids to St George to swim and see Zion's. Neither Gi or I had ever been there and figured it would make for a fun day trip. The kids loved the swimming, it had been such a LOOOOONGG cold spring, we were all excited to see the sun, and the hiking in Zion's was really pretty. It will be a lot of fun to go back in 5 years when everyone can hike and we don't have to wait for the youngest stragglers.

Young Womens Stuff

What would summer be without the added bonus of days with the girls in our ward. With a baseball theme for Camp, and service for Youth Conference, we had a lot of fun, a lot of late nights and overall an exhausting June :) Gi had travel the two weeks in between to Arizona and even a road trip cross-country to Tennessee... I dont know that we saw one another for the month of June, but family trips and events made up for lost time in July :)

Seven Peaks

The kids earned a day at Seven Peaks for reading 500 minutes the last month of school. Gi ended up in Tennesee the only week we could go, so here's to crazy for taking 4 kids and a double tube to Seven Peaks. The kids had a ball though and we survived the day!

A visit with Dad...

There are some treats as Jerry Seinfeld once put that should be used as Door Stoppers, not treats... his was referring to the "crap" orange peanuts that unfortunatley were one of my dad's favorites. Pink Pepto Mints, Orange Slices, Lemon Drops, Hostess Sno Balls... we all decided that his choice in snacks was to keep the rest of us at bay. As long as he ate the "crap" candy then he wouldn't have to share. (I've tried this trick with my own kids as licorice, since none of them like it :) He wouldn't have gotten these treats past my Aly-girl though, she dove in with both hands after we opened them up to share and couldn't get enough of them. Double fisted she wouldn't even chew a full piece before she was dropping and grabbing for more.

We wrote our notes to Dad on balloons, the grandkids love to see the notes float up to Heaven where he can read them. Its always a bittersweet event to be all together, but missing him... and boy some days I miss him. Those bear hugs like no one else gives, the forver fan in the stand, his quirky jokes that he loved to laugh at... Miss you Dad xoxox

Green River Sand Dunes

Digging Holes

Climbing Mountains

Reag's in the Sand... boy she's tan :)

The Water Crew

Lovin that Background scenery...

Some traditions are just staples in life, and spending a spring Saturday covered in Red Dirt at the Sand Dunes past Green River are one of our favorites. I remember taking a "sand bath" as a kid, washing and scrubbing and finding yourself sitting in an inch of sand as the tub water drained... well this year was no exception. As we were headed in with a few of the smaller kids and grandparents in the backs of trucks, Uncle Widge got his heavy diesel truck stuck. Gary, my cousin, driving his much more agile and lighter Toyota decided quickly to choose another path... as he did his front end dropped and the rear wheels sunk. In an effort to move us forward just another few inches, he gunned it, the back wheels spinning, the 5 foot WAVE of sand cascading right onto our heads in the back of the truck ;) Haven't had that much sand in so many places... well ever, but thanks for the fun memory of how it feels to scratch your head and find a good inch of sand there.

Kids had a ball chasing lizards, climbing our own family staked "Sand Mountain", digging holes, sandy Sloppy Joe's, and four wheeling fun. We don't see our Quarnberg cousins nearly enough, but sure love when we finally get to. Thanks Aunt Pat and Uncle Widge for starting such a fun tradition.

End of School Festivities

Bailey's end of year "Car Show" and drive-in and her school program, add in Chance's Kindergarten Graduation, and the chaos of summer is just about to begin... You'll know that as I update our blog in July for events that happened in May :) Bailey had a singing part in her music program and Chance pulled of some incredible disco finger moves in his dance perfomance of Jack-be-Nimble. I may not be a concert pianist or a professional choreographer but helping accompany Bailey's program and teach Chance and his buddies a 30 second dance reminds me of the many reasons I feel so blessed to be a stay-at-home mom and actually be able to be there for all the events of their lives... even in 1st Grade and kindergarten.

Cousins! Cousins! We Love cousins!

Never let it be said that my kids don't have enough cousins to love. I start looking at the last few months and what we've had going on and I realize with extended family starting right here in Nephi, to my cousin in Cedar, follow my sister and her kids to St George, throw in a visit from Gi's brother from CA, and tie it all up with grand "cousin" picture with all 22 Frame cousins, you'll never hear my kids wish they had cousins around to play with. I love it! love it! love it!

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To sum up...

Never a good excuse for my slotful ability to stay on top of this blog :) but at least some is better than none and I'll try this week to hightlight the last few months of life at the Rogersons. In the meantime, at least give me credit for getting a family pic with Aly in it before she turned 4.

Dad: Finally home for a few days after making up a hairy work load that should have been done before Christmas. Throw in a couple of days back to California for his brothers reception and some much needed "Guy" time with the old buddies fly-fishing and I'm now not sure what to do with him underfoot :) but glad to see him home for a few days in a row

Mom: Survived the holidays (just barely) started back to the work-out routine of Jillian Michaels, keeping up with 4 kids and 20 some-odd YW still keeps life busy, throw in a couple dozen year-end tax reviews and you've got life coming at you pretty quick.

Bailey: Now the proud owner of 4 missing teeth! Two Front, and two lowers, looking really "gummy" these days. Still the best big sister, and finding out in a hurry how well she's doing with piano. Love to hear her play even if it is the same song for the 10th time that day :) Still walks in her sleep some nights, and wakes each day to ask if she can wake Aly up before she goes to school, she just doesn't get to see her enough.

Chance: Ever the man of the house :) he's up building with Lego's before the Sun, and then anxious to get to Jimmy or Jeff's after school so he can try to finagle his way into playing their wii. Still my biggest lover of TV, but will pause at the mention of his newest favorite books.. Geronimo Stilton "Holy Cheese Bites!" (He actually said that out loud to me the other day :) Also slept walked this week into our room where he climed on the bed and giggled for nearly 15 minutes... not sure what was so funny, but he sure got a good laugh out of it.

Reagan: I'm sure its somehow going to come back to haunt me that I call this child "bi-polar" but I'll tell you when she is sweet, "Mom your bed looks so beautiful" as she helps me pile pillows on, to the she-devil herself screaming at the top of her lungs NOOOO while fleeing to her room... We have plenty of time together as she's not in school and doesn't nap, most of it really pretty fun. But if I ever try to actually leave the house for an errand she's always the first to beg to come with. Never a dull moment :)

Alyssa: Our sweet baby already 1... how is that possible, didn't we just get her here :( Bitter-sweet to have your last baby grow up so fast, and still so fun to see her try her first few steps this week. Poor thing ended up with a sinus infection and her eyes have been glued shut in the morning. Even still, as miserable as she is, she's always so happy to see you, really a content baby, and if she weren't busy terrorizing my semi-clean house, she'd be the perfect baby :)

So you see life is never dull at our house, kids in and out, fun all the time, FHE, library, school, karate, piano, YW, and Elders Quorum visit nights... these are our staples, Sun to Sat we really do live for our Friday night Pizza & a movie night to just see them all sit still for 5 minutes. Saturday after the kids had helped with chores, Chance left to Jeff's, Bailey and Reagan walked down to their friends, and Aly was napping, Gi and I were in our own home with silence for over an hour and just couldn't even imagine when the last time that EVER happened. This is our life, and we love it, but I must say a clean quiet home for a full hour was a fabulous treat too.