Happy Birthday D-Man!

 I cannot believe I have a 9 year old! Really, I think I say that almost every year, but still, I just really am not old enough to have one! (Because, you all know, I am still 23!(; )

This year for his birthday he didn't get a friend party but was plenty happy having cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Clark over. He chose to feed the family with another nacho bar like last year which was SUPER yummy again! We opened presents and then had dessert which was no-bake cherry cheesecake and ice cream. mmmmmmm! Very low key, but fun and delicious! I do have to say that it is SO nice having Jeff and Jaclyn here with us now in AZ! Jeff got a job down here in June and it has been awesome having them close to come to family things, have over for dinner, or just to hang out with!

Dallin still loves sports- he can't decide which is his favorite- either basketball, football, or soccer, but he is great at all three. He's going to be a fourth grader this year. He's super smart- being on the high honor roll for all A's and O's. (he is his dad's kid with a 99% in math!) He likes lots of colors, but his favorite is purple. He just got braces this past week and is still getting used to them, but since he's one of the first his age to get them, everyone thinks he's pretty cool. Dallin LOVES to play video games, and will spend all day doing so if only I'd let him! I love, love, love this kid!

Another broken bone...

 Yep. That's the way we roll around here. This one happened when Cauley was in Tuscon for his class/conference/seminar thing he had to go to for a week. The 3 older kids were downstairs watching a movie and Halli was sleeping and I was upstairs riding our recumbent bike. Anyways, the movie ended and the kids started running around playing tag. Tyli did exactly what we always tell all 4 kids NOT to do ALL. THE. TIME! and was trying to get away from McKade and so she climbed over the back of the couch. Well, she didn't move fast enough and got tagged, sending her to the floor differently the feet first. I heard her fall and cry and thought, what now? She came upstairs and told me McKade had pushed her off the couch and she hurt her arm. I told her to sit for a few minutes and it'll feel better. 20 minutes later, I heard her still crying and so I had her come upstairs where she said "It hurts like when I broke it last year." I took one look at it, hoped off the bike and into the shower while texting Cauley and calling my father-in-law. Her elbow was huge and distorted looking. Seriously, it makes me queasy to think about still. Mike came and stayed with the kids while I took her to urgent care. The receptionist was very nice and they got us back quick. After x-rays, the radiologist walked us back to our room exclaiming "that must have been a really high couch." Um, no, it's not really, but ok. The Dr looked at the x-rays and said there were a couple of suspicious spots, but not broken. I was thankful it wasn't broken and got the referral and paperwork to go to an orthopedic specialist while they put her in a hard splint like last time. The radiologist was walking us out and the receptionist said "oh, it was broken!" I said "no, just a few suspicious spots." The radiologist said "um, yes it is broken. The dr even put that on the discharge papers, but I'm the one who read the x-ray. It is broken." Hu????? She then told us to call the specialist right away. We got done, Cauley headed home, and then I called the specialist who got us in the next day. My sister-in-law, Jaclyn, went with me to the specialist. They did an x-ray and immediately he said there is one break, and then after another he said "and there is another." One was a normal fracture. The other, they couldn't tell if it was broken clear through or not but it didn't matter as the bone wasn't pulling away from itself. That one was more serious as it went up the bone instead of across, so we had to watch it closer. They immediately put on a cast, and when it was dried, they sawed it in two to "vent" it so her arm could still swell. They wrapped an ace bandage around that to keep it put together. We went in 4 days later to get another layer of plaster put around it. Tyli chose light blue because it's her favorite. When we go home I pulled out my sparkly glue and lubed up her cast, blow drying it afterward to make it sparkly. Then she practically asked everyone she saw to sign it. After 4 weeks, it is supposed to come off tomorrow. Hopefully. I want to go swimming, but not as bad as she does!

Wrestling and Basketball camp

For those who don't know, Cauley used to coach wrestling for 3 or so years at Higley. My boys have always loved climbing on Cauley and "wrestling" with anyone who wants to try and pin them down or wrestle. When Cauley got an email from Coach Johnson (a friend of Cauley's) from Perry High School about a wrestling camp, we jumped at the chance! It started the week after school got out for the summer. Cauley drove the kids down the first few days and then I got the chance to go sit for 3 hours and watch. The last day was just a wrestling match- boys paired up as close to height and weight against each other. (although both my boys wrestled older, taller, and heavier kids, but hey, it was just for fun!) To say the boys had fun is a complete understatement!!! On the first day, Cauley texted me to tell me McKade kept dancing while the "coaches," aka high school wrestlers, were showing them how to do things. He also didn't want to try take-downs- he just let his partner repeatedly take him down. He's such a goofball!

When the last day came, I was a very proud momma! McKade was, well himself. He didn't take things serious until the overtime period. The boy he wrestled was taller, but McKade's constant smile made this kid smile too. Notice in the bottom pics of McKade, him riding his partner- he would wrap himself around and just hold on. He ended up winning in overtime as he did a great shoot and take down!

Dallin really surprised me. He is so mellow at things and while watching him practice moves and warming up, he was just that- mellow. Before he went to wrestle, I said "Go after it!" (something Cauley tells people often.) Well, he did just that! The kid he wrestled definitely had a few years experience on him and was doing some pretty fancy moves that they weren't taught at the camp. Dallin fought hard and always got out of some sticky situations. Going into the 3rd period, Dallin was up by one point, but ended up losing to points at the end. Again, I was a very proud momma! They both got t-shirts and a medal, either gold or silver depending on how you did in your match.

I don't have pictures for the basketball camp, but just for journaling purposes, I'm tying it in. Cauley had to go to a conference/workshop/class thing in Tuscon the next week because he's going to be teaching AP Chemistry this year. He was gone almost all week and we'll just say I missed him dearly! On Wednesday, My father-in-law, Mike, took the boys over to Dobson high school to a basketball camp, where Cauley graduated and where Mike taught and coached for 25 years. They had fun, but we honestly haven't done much with them and basketball yet. Anyways, the following week, when Cauley was home, he took the boys to Dobson (about an hour away from our house!) Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They had a great time and learned lots. Dallin did awesome and McKade, well, I guess he did learn how to dribble. Halli went with them the last day as I had to take Tyli to the Dr- more to come on that one in a minute. She also learned to dribble. They got medals and a basketball.

Mr. Smarty Pants!

Kindergarten graduation. Mixed feelings. For me, not McKade. He's getting so big! The school my kids go to have theirs during the daytime, McKade's started at 9 am. Good grief what a busy day! Cauley's school had ended/graduated the night before so the teachers had to be there, but he got permission to come late so he could go to McKade's graduation. He got to take Dallin to his last day of school and be there for Flag Ceremony, and then he hung out until we got there. It was super cute!!! Seriously, I can't begin to tell you how well done this school's kinder graduation went! The principle started with welcoming, and then they gave out a few awards. McKade got an award for getting all 70 phonograms correct, and another award that was a huge surprise to he and I...STUDENT OF THE YEAR!! His teacher had such nice, kind, and encouraging words toward him as he was presented the award and given a t-shirt. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as he had perfect grades on everything all year long, except handwriting, which was still good. He is so funny as he was all serious the entire graduation (I had warned him not to goof around before and I guess he took it to heart.). After awards, they sang the cutest song EVER!!! Seriously, I have a copy and it was to die for! We also have it on video, but I can't get it to load on blogger. I think his teacher wrote it? Then they recited the Preamble to the Constitution. After that, they received their diplomas which were a graduation picture, certificate, DVD slide show we watched later, and another picture their teacher took. We then got the privilege of watching the slide show we all received a copy of and I will admit, I cried. It was too cute, definitely a treasure! Each child was shown individually telling us what they wanted to be when they grew up (McKade said he wants to be an army man) and then they had a little slide show of each student's picture to the song "Let Them Be Little." That ended graduation and Cauley left for his final hours of work for the school year while we took pictures.

McKade receiving the Student Of The Year award.

Ms. Wilcher- aide. She does SO much!! What an amazing lady!

The supermodel teacher

I seriously cannot say how much I love this lady! This is McKade's teacher, Mrs. Valenzuela. I had the privilege of helping in the classroom this year on multiple occasions and I learned so much from her just by being there. She is so kind, patient, loving, funny, eccentric, and I was sad for her not to be McKade's teacher any longer. I had hope Tyli would have her next year, but sadly, she isn't going to be teaching next year. :(

State Champs!

It was a late night so this is what's left of the boys team and coaches

Congratulations to the Higley Boys Track Team- State Champs (Division 3A)!!! The Girls team came in 3rd which is pretty good too! I was in suspense as I wasn't at the meet so Cauley would text me every now and again with updates. At one point he said it was either between us or Williams Field (our rivals in district) and I about went berserk with anticipation as I had no other details of what was going on or what we needed to do to win. He finally let me know we had won and told me he'd call me later (it was already 10:30 pm!) and so I waited. and waited. and waited. He finally got home around 2 am Sunday morning.

 It is tradition that Cauley started that they have a giant slip and slide on the football field after the awards banquet. This year did not disappoint. Not only do my kids LOVE it, but the coaches (ok, mostly Cauley) and the track kids had a blast too! I loved watching and taking pics. (still trying to figure out the camera at this point.) Here are a small fraction of what I took.



superman!

Seconds later, they were "bowled" down!

lets not all go at once....

or do. Wait, where are the girls?

2012 Cub Annapolis!

Dallin getting 5th and 6th arrow points

 Last week our ward's cub scouts kicked off our first annual Cub Annapolis! SO MUCH FUN! The boys were in charge of making a "car" out of a cardboard box. (think Flintstones cars!) Then, they brought them to pack meeting and they raced! Cauley, who is the Assistant Cub Master, ended up being in charge as the other guy was working late. Cauley set up the race course in the parking lot with orange cones and then the boys got ready. They had to have helmets of some kind (people wore bike helmets, motorcycle, football, batting helmets, etc.), eye protection (sunglasses, goggles, etc), and lace-up shoes. Every lap they were required to make a "pit stop." (The pit Crews were parents and other who were there to help out.) The first lap's pit stop required a tire change where the kids had to take off their shoes and sock and put them back on again before continuing their lap. Can you say stinky, SWEATY feet?!!! The 2nd pit stop they needed their windshield washed. When coming into the pit, a leader would spray them in the face with a spray bottle and the parents had to wipe their eye protection down. The 3rd, they needed gas, which was water handed to them in a paper cup that they had to chug. Then they had to do 1 final lap before crossing the finish line. The boys all had SO much fun! Once that race was complete (and yes, there were a couple of crashes!) Cauley made an off-road course that the boys did. The night ended with Popsicles. I didn't get many good shots as I was trying to watch the 3 younger ones, take pics, and be the pit crew all at the same time.

 So, you can't tell obviously from the picture, but Cauley had installed a mp3 player and speakers in Dallin's car which blasted music all night long. (he's the pointed black car with the blue bike helmet.)

Tyli's Dance Recital

McKade's "girlfriend" along side Tyli. She is in his kindergarten class
 and they really like each other!

 Tyli did dance again this year with Miss Kegan at Flower Patch Dance. I love it because it's super low key, not expensive, and Ty LOVES to dance! Kegan (a YW who recently moved out of our ward with her family) does such a great job with these girls! The white shirt costume was for the dance "Jessie's Girl" and the black polka dot was for "Freeze Frame." With us playing with our new cameras, we made the mistake of asking Dallin to video it. Most of the video is of the grass with the music- he wasn't paying attention to the camera! The theme this year was "The Rockin' 70's.

At the end, for the finale, Kegan invited all siblings to come dance too and Halli was more than happy to jump up and run to the "stage" to dance too!

New Camera!

I mentioned in Halli's birthday post (below) that our camera decided to break on Halli's birthday. Truthfully, it was breaking before and it was hit or miss getting a picture from it or not. The clasp that hold the battery in decided to break off, and honestly, it was getting old for a camera. Cauley surprised me and got me 2 new cameras! (one every-day one, one I can toss in my purse and take everywhere that is the canon sure shot, and the other, an upgrade from our old canon rebel G- the Rebel G T3!) We didn't know how to work either one yet, but needed a camera to take pics for Ty's dance recital. Here's Cauley playing around before with the Rebel G...

CTR FHE

Our ward primary did something really cute this year and each family will get a turn sometime this year to take home the CTR FHE binder. In it, there is a lesson, and activity, and then a recipe to make CTR Pretzels. We got our turn in late April, and had a blast doing it! (although we changed a few things.) CTR stands for Choose The Right and FHE is Family Home Evening. We do (or at least try! sometimes it's VERY short!) FHE every Monday night- a time we have set apart for our family and having a gospel-based lesson. This one was on... Choosing The Right!

Playing the game. The dices had scenerios on the sides and the kids had to tell us if it was a good choice and if not, how to make a good choice out of the situation.

 Instead of pretzels, we decided to make sugar cookies and take them around randomly to people in our ward. Sorry there are no pictures of the final products, frosted in green. Cauley decided that instead of a plate of cookies that said CTR, we made plates that said CTR YO! Some plates, depending on the size of family, had dinosaurs added.

Mom made the cookies, Dad rolled them out, and the kids cut them out.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

I can't believe she is already 2!!!

On her actual birthday- our camera decided to break at this point, so this is the best you get.

 Halli's birthday came during one of our busiest weeks of the year and so we celebrated early with the Clark Family. Everyone came over for dinner and then cupcakes and presents.

Halli is such a funny, sweet, loving little girl. She seriously makes us laugh constantly. You would be amazed at how much she talks. She can say most words, but some I still have to guess at. She still calls milk "coke." :) Halli loves to dance, and will follow her big sister around mercilessly! (especially when dancing!) She loves the color purple (pooopil!), eating consistently, coloring, and playing in water. She LOVES to sing and some of her absolute favorites right now are "I Am A Child of God," "Popcorn Popping," "Do As I'm Doing," and "Spot!" Her 2 year check-up went perfect, and she is in the 95th percentile for height (shortest kid at this point!), 30th for weight, and 45th for head. I think we'll keep her!