BOYS: 3 GIRLS: 0

FINAL (for real this time ;) OUTCOME: will be determined July 2010!
we can't WAIT!!!!

i have a SEVEN year old!!!

happy happy birthday to my little gage! i can't believe it's been SEVEN years, they have gone by so fast. i remember October 25, 2002 like it was yesterday. one of the best days of my life because it's the day i became a MOM! i love you so much gage and am so proud of you. i hope you have a FANTASTIC day---love, mom

here are SEVEN things i LOVE about GAGE:

*he is kind
*he is smart
*he is a great big brother to boe and ryder
*he tells me he loves me and gives me hugs and kisses ALL the time
*he has good manners
*he tries to make good choices and do what is right
*he is a super helper around the house

gage got a NINTENDO DS from us and lot's of great gifts from his aunts, uncles and grandparents. we had a SPOOKY halloween themed party last night for our family (i am mean and only do friend party every other year once they turn 6) it was a great night and we had a good time celebrating gage. we love you buddy!

54 years young...

today is my mom's 54th birthday.

it's also the FIFTH birthday without her.

i often wonder if i will have as much impact on the world as she did,
although she was only on the earth for 49 short, short years, to us,
her family, she continues to influence us, even in death.

i find myself thinking a bit more before i act, wondering what SHE would do.
i find myself being a bit friendlier to strangers, because that IS what
SHE did.

she had a sales-lady from ZCMI (at the time) that helped her
for years, come to her funeral,that is the kind of impact she made on others.

happy birthday mom. i love you and miss you terribly.

it's a great day to be..

33!!!
holy cow neal-you are an OLD man!
neal turned 33 on august 5. he celebrated by leaving me and the kids for SIX whole days to go fishing in alaska with his dad and two of his brothers! i can't think of a better gift then that for my lil' sweetcakes!

here are THIRTY-THREE things i love about neal:

*his smiley eyes....
*his sense of humor-seriously he's hilarious
*he is kind to everyone
*he is the best dad EVER
*he's a pretty great husband too ;)
*he is so content-it doesn't take much to make him happy
*he is humble-to a fault
*he serves ALL the time-usually it goes on without notice-he doesn't ever bring attention to himself, just sees a need and fills it.
*he is tolerant
*he has great legs-i don't see the point in wasting a great pair of legs on a man ;)
*he is great with money and budgets-i don't call him the budget nazi for nothing
*he is such a hard worker
*he is creative
*he does things to make me happy-sometimes that is no easy task-i can be such a pain
*he lets me give him honey-do lists and he always gets them done
*he gets up in the middle of the night and checks the house when i think someone has broken in (i am ultra paranoid-such a nerd)
*he lets me rant and rave when i am upset
*he tries to help me solve all my problems (sometimes this bugs the heck out of me, but i usually appreciate it after)
*he is logical
*he is not an over-reactor-this is good cause i am!
*he takes over when he gets home from work and gives me a break
*he lets me sleep in a few extra minutes in the morning and gets the kids up, bathed and dressed before i get up
*he loves treats as much as i do (don't know if this is REALLY a good thing???)
*he loves pretty much any and all music-has THOUSANDS of songs on his hard drive)
*he agrees with me on pretty much EVERYTHING about what we want when we build our house
*he entertains my endless list of home improvement projects and for the most part goes along with them and does them for me
*he is an awesome wakeboarder/skier
*he doesn't hang up his "kills" in our house-thank goodness for this...
*he is a creature of habit-so predictable-it's funny
*he is an AWESOME gardner
*he loves reality television as much as i do
*he looks so great dressed up
*he is MINE-

love you so much-hope your day was great...
adrian, gage, boe and ryder

can it REALLY be...

that 365 days have gone by and my little ryder roo is ONE???first thing in the morning-two of his fav things-the phone and ELMO jammies!mcdonalds birthday lunch-loving the happy meal toyfun elmo cake and cupcakeslook at ALL those gifts-such great friends and family!
he was seriously overwelmed! didn't quite "get" the whole gift opening thing...just wait till next year! cute grandpa kent...
bringing out the cake...he tries a bite of his cupcake... "YUM" i think he likes it?
we finally got him clean after a good "hose-off"he was soooo tired-it was a BIG day for the birthday boy...

the day after we got back from starvation, ryder turned ONE! we had a fun, busy day before having everyone over for cake and ice-cream. we went to mcdonald's for lunch and rydes got his FIRST happy meal-and of course LOVED it!
usually i choose the theme for my kids FIRST birthdays. with ryder though, i couldn't have chosen anything BUT elmo! he LOVES him! when sesame street is on ryder stands by the TV with his arms outstretched trying to get him, he lugs his elmo doll all over the place and when he sees ANYTHING elmo related he SQUEALS with pure JOY!
here are a few things about our ryder roo at ONE:
*he doesn't just walk-he RUNS EVERYWHERE (he officially started walking at about 10 months)
*he can SAY: da-da, ma-ma, ba-ba, kitty, hi, bye, no, meow
*he can SIGN: no, yes, more, bottle, milk, food, please and thank-you
*he LOVES elmo
*he LOVES his brothers
*his FAVORITE person on this planet is his dad (i think he is his dad's favorite person as well ;)
*he loves to "talk" on the phone
*he loves to sing-loves ANY kind of music
*he LOVES to swim
*he LOVES cats and can say MEOW-it's seriously the cutest thing ever
*he is still the sweetest, most easy-going, BEST baby on the earth-LOVE him SOOOOO much!
hope your day was SPECTACULAR ryder! We LOVE YOU!!!

Starvation Vacation...

a couple of years ago our family and my dad and kim decided to take a weekend camping/boating trip to duchesne and its BEAUTIFUL starvation reservoir. we happened to go over "duchesne days" which turned out to be the best time EVER! plenty of mullets and skullets and WT to go around! really though, some of the BEST water-and beautiful scenery. anyway, we have wanted to go back ever since.
a couple of months ago we were talking at the gatherum's house trying to decide if we wanted to do a family vacay this year. neal and i suggested a boating trip and told them about starvation and voile! the vacation was planned.
we went up over the 24th of july. it was HOT as hell and i am SOOOO-O very grateful that we have our trailer. it made it heavenly. not only did we have an AC but we also have a stove, microwave, fridge, freezer, TOILET and SHOWER! seriously awesome! we spent five days up there relaxing, boating, laying out, EATING, reading and sleeping. the kids had a great time with all their cousins and it was nice to reconnect, play and talk with everyone.
duchesne had a 24th of july "parade" which consisted of a horse, firetruck, police car and a couple of people on four-wheelers. it was great. the kids got TONS of candy-WAY more then they ever get at any parades around here! that night we were treated to a "fireworks" show over the reservoir. this consisted of about 10 fireworks with the grand finale being three set off at the same time! good times good times. gotta love small town utah!the kids waiting for more candy at the parade...boe got SOOO-O much candy that i finally had to cut him off. he filled up neal's hat, both of his pockets and bot of my pockets...gage got bit by something, it made his eye swell completely shut-he looked like a completely different kid!
ryder LOVED his first camping trip! he enjoyed playing in the sand and water and eating dirt..yummy!boe watching the fireworks show-what a little ham!

July 2009

continuing on with the updates...

we ended the month of june with the last day of kindergarten for gage and with boe's end of year preschool program. i cannot believe that i am going to have TWO children in elementary school in just a few short weeks! gage LOVED mrs. winegar and i am so grateful for her for being such an awesome teacher and helping him into his kindergarten transistion. boe is going to miss mrs. amy-after two years of preschool with her, kindergarten is going to be a lot easier to handle, but he has loved going to mrs. amy's for school.
gage on the last day of kindergarten
gage and cute mrs. winegar, we are so happy to have her again this year for boe
neal, gage and boe on gage's last day of school
boe boe and his two buddies libby and mercedes, what cute kids
boe with mrs. amy
boe with kim and grandpa
cute boe boe during his program

i LOVE july! the 4th and 24th are some of my favorite holidays! we started our festivities early on in the month by going to a buzz game. the kids LOVED it and it was actually pretty fun. we had really great seats and ate dinner there. afterwards we got to watch a great fireworks show to get us all geared up for the FOURTH!




RIVERTON TOWN DAYS...
every year our little city has a bunch of fun festivities to gear up for the summer holiday season. they have the city of lights carnival, a rodeo, demolition derby etc. we went to the carnival again this year, went to the rodeo with our friends the gees and my friend jeri and i ran the riverton 10k. all of this BEFORE july 4th! it made for a fun, busy couple of days!








JULY 3RD
our pre-fourth festivities continued on friday when we met up with neal's family at eagle wood golf course in bountiful for their annual fireworks show. i don't know if there a more beautiful setting in the state for fireworks than this. gage got lost-he went to find his shoes and didn't make it back. neal and i were looking for him and we heard the announcer at the stage saying that they had a lost little boy. just as they were about to announce his name over the speaker, my sister in laws sister (did ya get that ;) heard him say his name was gage gatherum and his parents are adrian and neal. she told the policeman that she knew where his family was. so, with a police escort and all, they brought him back over to us. not gonna lie, it scared me, thankfully it scared gage pretty good as well! we ended the night without anymore drama and with an outstanding fireworks show.





JULY 4TH
we started out the 4th nice and early. as i mentioned, my friend jeri and i ran the riverton 10k. neal took the kids to the annual neighborhood parade and breakfast where jeri and i met up with them after the race. after breakfast we met up with my dad, kim, ashlee, kaylee and davey at willard bay for a day of boating! my dad had bought some kids waterskis that he wanted to try out with the boys. they LOVED it and did SO well! they both got up with just a little help from neal. it was awesome! we headed home after lunch to get ready for a bbq that night at our friend's the proulx's. after dinner we headed over to riverton park for the fireworks show. i feel that i have been to many a fireworks show and i am not kidding when i say that this is one of the best! it is so long and they have an awsesome variety and display of fireworks. we ended the evening with three VERY tuckered out kiddos.






whew! that gets us through july 4th! i still have a wedding, birthday and the 24th to blog about...we'll save that one for tomorrow!