Eight is Great!!!

I can't believe that Cayden is turning 8 today. It seems like just yesterday that I was holding him in my arms and he was a tiny baby. I remember when they laid him on my chest after I had him, I thought he was the most beautiful baby that I had ever seen. I still think he is the hansomest little boy that I know. I love Cayden so much. He brings so much laughter and joy into our home. He is always telling jokes and making all of us laugh. He finds the funny part of almost every situation. Cayden is such a wonderful brother and is always looking out for his sisters. He is very protective of them, and is always being thoughtful of others feelings. He is so excited to have a new little brother coming. I think he would have been devastated if it was another girl, he is so excited to have a brother to wrestle with and "teach all the boy stuff" to. Cayden has a very strong spirit, I always get the feeling that he is much older and wiser than I am. He decided last year that he wanted to read the entire Book of Mormon on his own before he turned 8 so that he could pray about it and know if it was true before he was baptized. I am so proud of how hard he has worked to accomplish his goal. It wasn't easy for him and he had to read 3-4 pages a day for the past few months to finish in time. When he finished last week I was so proud of him. I can't even describe the joy that comes as a parent when you see your child developing their own testimony and learning to love the Savior and the Scriptures. Cayden loves to build and design things. He wants to be a Robotic engineer someday and design robots. He l0ves Lego's, Bionicle's, and his Erector set. Cayden has started taking piano lessons this year and is doing so great. He loves to write his own songs. I got him a composition notebook so he could start recording them. Cayden is so smart and is especially great at Math and Science. He loves to learn about history and loves to have me read to him. He loves it when I tell him scripture stories and is always asking me questions about things that happened in the scriptures. Cayden loves to wakeboard, ride four wheelers, swim, and play any sport. He loves to be outside and moving. Everyone that meets Cayden loves him. He is so fun and outgoing. I am always amazed at how fast he makes friends. These are some of my favorite things about Cayden, there are so many more wonderful things about him, to many to list here! I hope he knows how proud of him we are and how much he is loved! We can't wait for his baptism next month when we get to Utah. Happy 8th Birthday Buddy!

Kidney Stones

Chuck has been having HORRIBLE pain in his stomach around the kidneys and we found out this week that he has 3 kidney stones. I feel so bad for him. It has been about a week now and he hasn't even passed the first one, and he still has 2 more to go. He has the last week of classes and finals starting this week. It is the worst possible time for this to be happening to him. I feel so bad for him. He has had a really good attitude about it though, he is a great example to me of staying posotive and turning to the Lord even when things are hard for us. I sure love him and hope this passes quickly for him.

Brown County Birthday Weekend

For Cayden's birthday this year we wanted to do something special as a family because he was turning 8. He really wanted to go camping, but since our camping stuff is all packed up for the move we decided to get a cabin at Abe Martin Lodge in Brown County state park. They have an indoor water park so we thought the kids would love it. We went up Friday Afternoon and spent the afternoon swimming. The kids were in heaven since they haven't been able to swim since last summer. Then we went to dinner at the Little Gem Restaurant. I am not usually a fan of country cooking restaurants but it was actually really good and the kids loved it. After dinner we opened presents. Cayden was really happy with his scooter from Mom and Dad, a lego set from Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Ron and a Bionicle from his sisters. After presents we went on a hike and found the coolest outdoor ampitheater where the kids put on a production of High School musical for us. It was so cute. The next day we were planning on hiking around the lake and going horseback riding but we were rained out and had to come home early. Sunday was Cayden's actual birthday and he asked for Taco's for dinner and chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. It was a great family weekend, we got to celebrate our favorite little boy in the world.

Disneyworld

We had such an amazing time at Disneyworld this year. We decided to use our Christmas money from my parents to take the kids while we were still within driving distance. Last year we told the kids that if they would go off of sugar for 1 year with us that we would take them to Disneyland, we were planning the trip for August after Chuck's internship, but when we found out I was pregnant and due with the baby right at the same time as the trip we decided to move it up and do it over spring break and go to Disneyworld. We surprised the kids and didn't tell them where we were going. It was so fun to see their faces light up and start screaming when we drove up and they saw the Disneyworld sign. This really was the best family vacation we have ever had, it was so much fun!! And the kids were at the perfect ages to enjoy it all. We had 6 day passes, but only ended up using 5 because we were so exhausted by the end of the week.

Day 1- we went to the Magic Kingdom. The kids loved just walking around and seeing everything. We did a bunch of rides, and discovered that Cayden still does not like rollar coasters, but Emma loves them.

Day 2- We went to the Animal Kingdom. The Safari was amazing and the kids loved seeing the animals. After the Safari it started pouring and it rained the rest of the day. We had to get ponchos for everyone and stayed as long as the kids could handle it. That night we went to Roy's for dessert, and went to bed early so that we could stay up for Fantasmic the next night.





Day 3- we went to Hollywood Studios. Their favorite ride was Star Tours and they did it like 5 times in a row. I took Gracie to see Winnie the Pooh and Mickey while chuck took the big kids to the Indiana Jones show. The kids loved the parade and we did Fantasmic that night. Fantasmic was so fun, and the kids all loved it. Gracie especially loved the fireworks. The kids were completely tuckered out by the time Fantasmic was over and fell asleep on the way out of the park.







Day 4- We did the Magic Kingdom again. This time we did a couple of rides but the kids mostly wanted to see all the Characters, so we waited in very long lines to see all the princesses while Cayden and Daddy went on Pirates of the Carribean. We got dole pineapple ice cream (my favorite), watched the show in front of the castle, and did all the rides at Fantasyland.







Day 5- Mom and Daddy were exhausted at this point so we took a day off and went to Cocoa Beach. The kids built sand castles, and played in the water all day. We took a walk down the pier and saw dolphins, pelicans and turtles. The beach was so beautiful. It was a really fun and relaxing day.







Day 6- We started our day with a character breakfast. It was such great food and the kids loved seeing the characters. Gracie loves Mickey Mouse clubhouse right now so she was so excited the whole time we were at the park whenever we saw any of the characters from the show. Her little eyes would light up, I love how magical it for them. After our character breakfast we went to epcot. There were only a couple of rides but we really enjoyed going "around the world" and seeing all the different places. We had lunch in "Japan", and had gellato from "Italy." They had their spring garden festival that week so they had amazing gardens and had all the characters made out of bushes and flowers, it was so beautiful. That night we ate inside the big Pyramid in Mexico at the same restaurant that Chuck and I ate at on our Honeymoon. It was really fun to take the kids back there and share another wonderful memory there.

















Day 7- I only got one picture from our last day here. We went back to Magic Kingdom and saw the fairies and rode all of our favorite rides again. That afternoon we went to Downtown disney for some shopping and dinner and then went back to the park for the light parade and fireworks over the castle. It was a perfect last day of our vacation. The kids loved the fireworks and we all got souvenires that we loved.
I am so grateful that we were able to take this vacation as a family. I love being all together and having nothing else to do but spend time together and laugh. It was one of the funest week's of my life. I was seriously so tired by the time we left, but I'm glad I was only 20 weeks pregnant when we went. If I had been much bigger I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much.