First day of School

Ammon started year 2 of preschool yesterday. He was sooo excited to go back to school! I worried that he might have a hard time changing teachers, but he didn't miss a beat. Carter, on the other hand, was very upset and cried for 20 minutes after we dropped Ammon off. It's not easy being two and thinking that you're four.


Ammon all ready for school!

Here is Ammon in front of his preschool classroom.

Ammon's buddy, Ashlyn is in his preschool class. When I asked what he did at school all he said was, "I just played with Ashlyn."


This year Ammon's teacher is Mrs. Shoemaker. He thinks she is very nice and is excited to be in her class.

First Soccer Game

Yesterday was Ammon's first soccer game. He had a great time! We discovered that Ammon is very competitive (he got really frustrated whenever the other team scored). Ammon got a little confused about which goal was his team's, but he still managed to score a goal. We were so proud of him and we are excited for the rest of the season.

Ammon and his teammates practicing before the game.


Ammon's team and his coach cheering, "go bugs!" Note: Ammon's coach took suggestions from the kids on what to name their team. Some of the suggestions were: the flowers, the babies, the sharks and the bugs. You can see this is obviously a co-ed 4 year old soccer team!



All dressed up in his soccer uniform! Ammon looks like he is wearing tights, but it's really just long shorts and long socks.

Here is a video clip from the game. Sadly, my camera ran out of batteries before Ammon scored his goal. But this is a great shot of the soccer prodigy on the other team scoring a goal. Sorry about my loud cheering, I'll have to work on being quiet while I'm video taping!

Raccoon River Park

Today we took the kids to Raccoon River Park to try to take advantage of the last few days of Summer. They had a blast swimming, playing in the sand, running through the fountains and playing on the playground.


Oakley, Austin, Carter, Ashlyn, Carson, Caden and Ammon in front of the river. Note: it was a small miracle that I could stop them from running around long enough to get this picture.


The kids playing in the water fountains. It looks overcast and yucky outside, but it was actually really HOT and HUMID. It was a great way for them to cool off.


Cannon, Ammon and Carter swimming in the river. The water was nice and warm.


Ashlyn, Ammon and Cannon playing in the sand box.


The whole crew on the playground. Cohen, Carter, Oakley, Ashlyn, Ammon, Carson, Austin, Caden, Cannon and Karlee. We are so lucky to have so many friends here!

More Visitors!

We had some fun visitors the last couple of days. Grandma Stewart, Uncle Scotty and Uncle Daniel stopped by on their way to Maryland (they were driving Scotty out to medical school). We had a fun packed day with them and we were very sad to see them go. We took them to the Science Center, Colby's school, Walmart and of course CiCi's pizza. I made them promise to drive out and see us again sometime soon. Besides, once you've seen Wyoming, why wouldn't you want to drive through it again?


Scott and Carter in front of the giant caterpillar at the Science Center.


Ammon eating his "berries and cream" for breakfast.

Grandma, Daniel, Carter, Scott, Ammon and Colby by the snakes!

The Uncles had more fun than the kids did playing at the weather station at the science center.


Daniel and Ammon giving us a weather report.


The gang in front of the giant spider that you can't see in this picture.


Grandma and Scott trying out some career options.

Thanks for the visit guys! It was great to see you. Hopefully we will see you again soon.

Our First Visitors

I am still trying to get caught up posting all the pictures I took this Summer. I saved the best for last! The first week of July we had our first visitors. Mike and Kim drove up from Texas and spent the fourth of July with us. We were so excited to have visitors and we had a great time with Mike, Kim and Megan.


On the fourth we went up to the beach at Saylorville lake. The kids had fun playing in the sand and swimming. There was no way Carter was going to sink!!


Megan had a great time playing in the sand. (It was actually more like mud, but we didn't tell her that!)


Colby, Mike, Megan and Kim playing on the beach.


One afternoon, we went to the Science center. The highlight was the rattle snake that was rattling at us- if he wasn't behind glass I'm sure he would have charged us.


I brought home Macaroni Grill to go for Mike and Kim. We offer the amenity to all our visitors!


Megan, Ammon and Carter were such cute little friends. They had a great time playing together.


And riding in the van together.

We drove up to Hickory Park for dinner.


And Mike ordered the biggest Pork Fritter sandwich we had ever seen.


Kim, Megan, Colby, Carter, Mike, and Ammon walking on the Neil Smith trail.

Thanks Mike and Kim for driving up to see us, we had a great time.

Eight Shauni Things...

I was tagged by Karin to post eight things about myself. I will try to think of some things that you don't already know. For those of you who I tag here are the rules:
Here are the rules:
* Each player lists 8 facts or habits about themselves.
* The rules of the game are posted before the list begins.
*At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 more players by posting their name. In addition, go to their blog and leave a comment telling them they have been tagged with your blog address so they can read your blog.


1. I have horrible hand-eye coordination. For this reason, I am not good at sports or video games. A couple weeks ago, when we were playing racquetball, Colby asked me if I had ever had my eyes checked.

2. I am a sucker for clearance sales. I buy almost all of my kid's clothes a year in advance and find excellent deals on end of season stuff. The only problem with this is if you underestimate or overestimate how much they will grow in a year- other than that it's great.

3. I love to drink water. It is usually the only thing I drink, but when I get a headache I take two Excedrin and chase them with a Diet Coke.

4. I'm addicted to lip gloss. I always carry some type of lip gloss or chapstick with me.

5. I won't wear jeans with tennis shoes. I don't have any problem with people who do it- I just don't like to. I wear jeans around town and tennis shoes when I'm exercising.

6. I like to sing along (and occasionally dance along) to the music on the radio. I am one of those people who you laugh at when you see them stopped at a stoplight and they are belting it out.

7. I love the way the house looks when it is freshly vacuumed. I don't believe you can vacuum too often.

8. I have very, horribly ugly feet. Consider yourself lucky if you have never seen them. They have been the brunt of many jokes but I'm kind of attached to them (Ha Ha, I know you laughed!) This is one of the many reasons I am helping put my husband through podiatry school. I tell Colby I am first in line for foot surgery and I would like it to be partially cosmetic.

I am tagging Mike, Kim, Crystal, Taylor, Marcie, Carolee, Stephanie and Angel

A Tribute to Good Friends

This Summer is my ten year high school reunion. (scary!) To commemorate this event, my friends and I spent a weekend in Salt Lake together. We had such a blast! I am so blessed to have such good friends and to have been able to keep in contact with them for so many years. This post is dedicated to my friends and all the reasons why I love them!

Kami, Lisa, Shauni and Melanie (it took many tries to get this picture!)


Lisa shows off some of her purchases.


Kami was the good friend who agreed to give Melanie her shot.


Our "nice" hotel. (But it was a really good deal!)


40 reasons why I love my friends:

1. They listen to me even when I don't have anything interesting to say.

2. They will watch Steel Magnolias with me (and cry at the end).

3. They know me well enough to know that if I am in the hospital after having a baby, I would rather have them bring me ice cream than send me flowers.

4. We can go six months without seeing each other and when we get together we haven't missed a beat.

5. They will talk about things like body hair and stretch marks without getting grossed out.

6. They still hung out with my when I had tootsie roll bangs and the 80's haircut (in 1999).

7.We are almost thirty and we can still stay up until 3 am at a sleepover talking about boys (usually our husbands and kids, but boys all the same).

8.They can sing along with me to "Insensitive," "Sweet, Sexy Thing" and almost anything by Tom Petty.

9. Road trips.

10. Choir trips.

11. Drill trips.

12. Spring break.

13. I love that Lisa has 6 kids under the age of 5 and her hair still always looks perfect.

14. I love that Jen already thinks about how her 3 year old's wedding invitation will look.

15. I love that I can talk to Kami on the phone for 2 hours and still have more to say.

16. I love that Mel had enough self confidence to date a guy who wore overalls- in college.

17. I love that Lanae fell out of a moving vehicle trying to get a guys attention.

18. The world's best book club. (Thank you Jen!)

19. Our Senior trip and everything that went with it.

20. Melanie's condo at snowbird.

21. Between the six of us, we have 15 kids and 2 on the way (congrats to Mel on the twins!).

22. I love that I was at Lisa's house often enough to frequently see her mom in her bath robe.

23. I love that Lanae nicknamed her black and white car "Micheal Jackson."

24. I love how Melanie skis.

25. I love that Kami will tell me what she really thinks about the clothes I try on when we are shopping.

26. They know, and frequently call me by, my middle name.

27. I love that I know if they prefer to dip or crunch saltine crackers in tomato soup.

28. Our trips to Las Vegas, California, New York, Florida, Tennessee, Ensenada, Disneyland and St. George.

29. They all came to, and dressed up for, my Halloween parties.

30. Girls night outs.

31. Scrapbooking.

32. Our apartment.

33. Belly button rings and (almost) tattoos.

34. Play dates.

35. We all agree that you have to hold an imaginary microphone when lip syncing.

36. I love that Lanae doesn't hold a grudge that she was my "service project."

37. Twinkies and Twizzlers.

38. We can do better than "not ugly".

39. When I have a parenting question, one of them is bound to know the answer.

40. They make me a better person.

Husbandless and cleaning up puke

Today marks day seven of Colby being out of town. It has been a long week. I have to admit, I was mildly jealous when I talked to Colby today and he was at the mall- and he had just spent the afternoon at the lake. I spent my day cleaning up puke. Carter has been sick and started throwing up at about 6 am this morning. By the time I put him to bed at 8 he had thrown up about ten times, been in six or seven different outfits and taken five baths. For some strange reason, Carter being sick made me miss Colby even more. I don't know why because even if he was home I would have been the one cleaning up puke, it's just nice to have some company while cleaning I guess. I found this picture so I can remember how much I love my boys. Not that cleaning up throw-up made me love them any less, I love my kids all the time. I just love them more when they're healthy!

Trip to Utah Part II

We spent a weekend with my family at a condo by Jordanelle reservoir. The kids had so much fun boating and playing with their cousins. Colby and I looked forward to putting the kids to bed so we could stay up late and play games with the adults. We also discovered the "Dairy Keen" restaurant, which was a cute little burger joint with awesome shakes.


The Stewart grandkids posing for a picture on the back of the boat. For some reason, Carter decided he was scared of the boat (even though he went boating multiple times last Summer). He cried every time we went out on the water. Lets hope this is just a phase!


Grandpa let Carter help him drive the boat in an effort to get him to stop screaming. It seemed to work, but a few minutes later he was crying again and wanted to get off the boat.


Ammon and Carter with Grandma and Grandpa Stewart at The Gateway. Grandma and Grandpa took the boys to Build a Bear Workshop and they had a blast! They now have two new buddies to take to bed every night.


Ammon with his doggies Scrappy and Cook da Book. We hope these will pacify his desire for a pet dog until we have a house.


We had a picnic at Liberty park and let the kids play in the wading pools. It was a hot day and a nice way for them to cool off. Above, Ammon, Kalii, Baylee, Natalee and Carter at the park.


All the kids playing in the wading pools. The boys like to chase these little McDonald's ball down the waterfalls and rivers. Carter even let Buzz Lightyear get in for a swim.


We went to the zoo with Scott, Aleese and some of their nieces and nephews. I wish I had a picture of the whole group of us. We had a fun day spending time with them. The highlight for the kids was the white alligator. Carter is still talking about the white alligator that we saw at the zoo.


Ammon and Carter playing at the Children's Museum. They loved these flippers and goggles.

One last boating picture. What a fun trip we had! It was so good to see our friends and family. Believe it or not, I still have more pictures to post!

And so it begins....

I just got my USB cable in the mail from my parents (Hurray!) so I have many, many pictures to post. I'm going to start chronologically from the beginning of the Summer. These pictures are of our trip to Utah (well, the first part of the trip anyways). We kicked the week off at Frost's house. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins.

Ones of our first orders of business was lunch with Grandma Frost and Megan at Artic Circle. The kids love their playground (and I love it cause it's not stinky). Plus, you've got to love their complimentary kids cones.

Grandpa Frost and Colby wrestling with Megan and Carter. Megan was visiting Grandma and Grandpa from Texas. After one day together Carter told me, "Mom, Megan's my best friend."

Another one of my priorities was to get my hair cut. I love my "hair girl" Jen and I have yet to find a replacement for her in Iowa. After going six months without a hair cut- I was in desperate need of one! Here I am, showing off my new cut with my cute little family.

We took the kids to the bounce house at Classic skating and they loved it. Carter made me pretty nervous with some of the daring feats he attempted (he honestly believes he is AT LEAST four years old). Ammon's little face got bright red from all the running and jumping.


We had a barbecue in honor of Jared and Carolee and baby boy #2 (Congratulations again, you guys!) Bugs and Ammon got into a water fight with Grandpa Frost. (Don't they look mischievous?)


Carter was content to sit back and watch the action, and get disgustingly sticking from spilling Sprite all over himself.

Carter, Ammon and Megan in their PJ's. They were all insistent on wearing these backpacks around. Megan's was so big she had a hard time standing up straight!

We went to Provo for Daniel's high school graduation. I tried to get a picture of Daniel walking to get his diploma at graduation, but he had them announce the wrong name and I missed it! This is as good as I could do. Carter and Ammon caught piggybacks to the car with Colby and Uncle Scotty, because we had to park "weally" far away.

We attempted to get a picture of all the Frost grandkids and it was quite a zoo! After we took a lunch break, we actually managed to get a pretty good picture. After this experience, I realized why some animals eat their young. Stay tuned to see even more of our trip to Utah.....