Schools Out For Summer!

Just thought I would post some before and afters. Here is a group picture of my boys the last day of school. May 25th 2011.

Cannon first day of school Fall 2010. Going into 8th gradeLast day of school Spring 2011. Next year High School! First day of Middle School Fall 2010. Look how young and innocent he looks:) Last day of school Spring 2011. He did some serious changing this year. Cole is sure he will be taller than me by end of next year. I think he might be right.First day of school Fall 2010. Trav was all ready to be on the big kid side of the playground.

Last day of school Spring 2011. He has loved playing with all the kids at recess. And all the older students have been so nice to him!Adam was in pre-school this year and loved every minute of it! Fall 2010.
Now Adam is really looking forward to going to kindergarten next Fall. He can't wait to be at school with his cousin Ben! Here he is on his last day of school. He got the best thinker award.

Cole's Middle School Experience

Cole started his first year of middle school this year at the new Rocky Mountain Middle School High School. It has been an exciting but all to quick year. Cole has had a pretty good year. After having things come pretty easy in elementary he has had to work a little harder in middle school. It is good for him. Cole is very responsible about getting his work done and in all accept for practicing his darn tuba. He has elected not to do band next year and just do choir. I did get a new camera around Christmas this year so the amount of pictures taken increased quite a bit for the second part of this school year. I missed his entire football season and his basketball season. Cole played quarterback and some other positions that I don't know the name of. He did really well in basketball and got to play on the 6th and 7th grade teams. He really enjoyed that. It is fun to watch him play. Cole is a great fundamental player. Sometimes he looks as if he is moving in slow motion but he really does have a good time.
Right before the Christmas band/choir concert. Cole played his last season of little league basketball this year. Track season was cold and fast just like it always is in Wyoming. Cole did the high jump the triple jump, the long jump the 100 yard dash and the 200 hurdles. At the conference track meet (5/6/2011) Cole got his personal best in every event he did. He got three 1st place ribbons and two 2nd place. He did really well. His goal is to break the record Cannon set this year for the triple jump when he is in 8th grade. We will see how that goes. Well Summer is almost here we are winding up the month with concerts and field trips and baseball baseball baseball! Cole is signed up to be in a 3on 3 tournament the first weekend school gets out. The summer already seems to be booked up but it looks to be a fun one:)

RMHS Basketball

View Full Album

View Full Album

View Full Album

Just a few pictures I have taken this season. I hope to get many more. I am not so good at the action pictures but it is fun learning.

Fun in the Snow

We went sledding on New Years day and it was so fun and sooooo cold. I have not been so grateful for gloves and warm clothes in a long time. I don’t know how the pioneers did it. I am pretty sure if I was without those things I would just lay down and wait to die.

On a more possitive note we had a blast and Michael got some great pictures!

Travis was a crazy man on the snow. I don’t know how many times he went up and down that hill but I am pretty sure it was more than anyone else. These pictures are so good of Sarah. She had quite the Superman flight. But as you can see she got up with a smile.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. For the first time in 8+ years I got to be with my family for Christmas. With basketball we just haven't traveled. This year Michael was feeling soft and conceded to travel. We had a great time at my brothers. The kids played and played and played. My brother has two boys and two girls. It was fun to see what is under the tree for a girl at Christmas. There were a lot of dolls and stuff to take care of their dolls. When does changing a diaper go from fun play time to "no it is your turn!" I know when there is something in it. My brothers oldest daughter actually got a doll that will dirty her diaper if you feed her special food. Now who signs up for changing dirty diapers before you need to? Anyway we had a wonderful time. My parents met us at my brothers also and it was really nice to be with them.

The children all dressed up on Christmas Eve and we went through the Christmas story. We haven't really done that before the boys have done the Nativity with the primary and we always read it together the night before Christmas but it was fun for the kids to act it out. Cannon even was the donkey that Mary rode into Bethlehem on.

Christmas morning was a little crazy with that many presents to get passed out. But presents are always fun so who can complain about that. Becky my sister made the whole family slippers this year and it was quite impressive. She really tried to personalize them for all my boys. She made Adam and Travis' look like cowboy boots and Cannon and Cole's had either their basketball number on them or Grizz. It was very thoughtful. I know it must have taken her a really long time and she was worried that no one would like them but we all did and the boys wear them like crazy. It was a great idea to just give gifts that we made instead of store bought stuff. At least the Simmons family benefited. I hope Jenny liked the things we sent.

Santa came to my brothers house for the boys but we decided to just leave the gifts from mom and dad at home and open them when we got back. So of course the boys were eager to get home. We got back late Sunday night so we decided to wake up the next morning and open gifts then. It was fun and it was like having two Christmases. The boys all seemed happy with what they received and we had a nice slow day on Monday.

One more thing. On our way to my brothers house we got to Greybull which is only about 45 minutes away and our car started steaming really bad. We pulled into a gas station and they told Michael where a service station was and we cautiously drove our smoking car there. The mechanic quickly diagnosed it to be a bad water pump and told us he could get a new one and have it put in and it would only take him 2-3 hours. I know that sounds long but just a few minutes earlier I was thinking the engine to our car had just blown up and I was not going to be with my family for Christmas. So replacing a water pump and it getting done fast enough that we could still head to my brothers was fantastic news. The mechanics at the service station were very nice and patient with my kids who after about 20 minutes got bored and started using the tires and what ever else was in the waiting area as something to play on. When Michael and I were on our way again to my brothers we realized how blessed we were that our car broke down when and where it did. There are many stretches of Wyoming that are bare and endless with no one in sight and our car could have broken down in those type of places. But instead the car started showing signs of problems just as we were coming into Greybull. So we thanked our Heavenly Father for watching over us. I am so grateful for the knowledge of my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. I appreciate His hand in all things good or bad because He knows what I can and can't over come. And obviously I couldn't handle being stranded in the middle of nowhere with four boys:)

I'm Baaaaaaaack

I know I disappeared for quite some time but I am going to try a little harder to be a little better at blogging:) I got a new camera and that is sparking a whole new desire to take pictures and show them to people. We got to travel for Christmas for the first time in a long time and we went to my brothers in Colorado Springs. We went on a tour of the Air Force Academy. Most of the family didn't want to go originally(everyone accept Michael) but once we got there it was awesome and now Cannon wants to go to the academy for school. He saw the private golf course and that clinched it for him. The campus is really large and very clean and I am sure when it isn't winter and brown it is beautiful. We watched a short video about life on campus and it seems hard yet amazing. I know that it takes an incredible effort to get into a college like that but it would be a great goal for Cannon to strive to achieve. It was interesting to watch his interest grow and grow as we went from place to place. The Simmons family has always had a fascination with flight and it looks like it is passing down generation to generation.

Travis my cowboy!

Travis turned 8! Being eight is a big milestone for us it means you are old enough to make the decision to get baptised and join the church. Travis has been looking forward to this day for quite a while and I think it turned out to be all he thought it would be.

With Travis' real birthday being on Sunday we decided to have his birthday party on Saturday. We had family here from all over and so it was a party with family and best of all cousins! Travis felt so good that so much family was here and that he got to share his special day with his cousins. We had some cowboy games, pin the tail on the horse and find the animals in the hay we popped some balloons and then the big surprise showed up.

Travis loves animals but just like me when I was his age he adores horses. I have watched him admire horses just like me for the last few years and every time he gets that silly grin on his face when he gets to ride or simply be near a horse I know exactly how he is feeling because I felt the same way. I don't know if it was partly for selfish reasons but Travis got a horse as his gift from Michael and I. Did it make him the happiest boy in the world? Yes! Did it make me the happiest mom in the world? Yes! I forgot what joy I get from spending time with horses and now it is a great thing Travis and I will get to share together. Cole and Adam are pretty interested also especially when it comes to riding. Anyway, Saturday turned out great it was hard to get Travis to come in and blow out the candles on his cake but it was great and I know Chief, Travis' new strawberry roan, will be a great addition to the family. Yes, it is a boy you would think I would at least start buying female animals to try to even up the numbers around here.

Sunday was crazy and absolutely wonderful! Once everyone got here there was 6 adults and 10 children all crammed into my wonderful but not so big house(at least it is bigger than the old one.) We bathed most of the kids the night before to hope for a smoother morning. Unfortunately it was also day light savings weekend and so we all got to loose and extra hour of sleep. So we all made it to church by 9:00am on time I might add. We then got home at noon from church let the kids change out of their clothes to have lunch and then hop right back in them for Travis' baptism at 2:00. It was crazy and we were running so behind and all I could think about on the way to the baptism was all the things I forgot like an easel and a book for all the guests to sign so Travis could remember who attended his baptism. I was getting so worked up as I do I decided to find a quiet spot and just ask Heavenly Father to help me enjoy the day and really focus on what was important. The baptism was amazing! I know all of my children's have been great but there was a spirit there that I had not felt before. I had been worried as the day was getting closer that Travis was not quite ready to get baptised. I was nervous that he did not understand what it meant. I can tell you now I was wrong. The thoughts and experiences that Travis has shared with me about the feelings he had the day he was baptised are more powerful than I would have ever thought possible coming from an eight year old boy. I know the spirit testified to Travis that what he was doing was right and it has told me the same thing. I hope to never loose the memories from that day and I am grateful for such a wonderful son and the knowledge of the gospel. That evening Roland, Michael's dad, got married and it was wonderful and exciting. The day was crazy but filled with so much joy that it was all worth it!