Kick off for SUMMER!

The Outdoor Expo came to Salt Lake and Noelle was given a few extra tickets since she was signing autographs there. So we headed up and had a great time. The kids were able to rock climb, bike, climb, jump, play and eat. We met up with Noelle, Janson, Grandma, Grandpa, Lacee and Traycen, and then the party started! We are definitely looking forward to our summer months and all the outdoor fun Utah has to offer. Bring it on!

Spring Piano Recital

Once again, it was time for Jayden and Skyler's yearly spring recital. And, as always, Miss Debbie did an incredible job with the students. Jayden played Jam Session and Skyler played Linus and Lucy. The theme was Movies. Both boys did an amazing job. We are so proud of both.

With age, comes responsibility

Since Jayden turned 12, he wanted to be ordained a Deacon. It was a great day. Bishop Hall, Grandpa Pikus and Dad (Taylor) were all present during the ordination.

12 Years ago today... Baby Jayden was born!

Jayden decided to have a birthday party rather than a large present from Mom and Dad. So Grandma and Grandpa Pikus were nice enough to let him and his 12 friends come over and have a HUGE Nerf Gun war for his party. 5 acres of property was a little bit too big, so we narrowed it down to 3. They had a great time and of course he was given more Nerf guns for his birthday. You can never have enough with boys in the house.

MAY

Birthday Surprise

For my birthday, Noelle asked if I could go with her to Florida since she had a speaking engagement there and could take a guest. I was surprised that she asked it like a question. It wasn't a very difficult answer! YES! So off we went after getting the kids off to school. We didn't have much time the first night to do much, so we grabbed a bite to eat and did a little shopping. The next morning, we decided to take a tour of the everglades on one of the airboats. It was a very warm day and a few of the crocodiles were out wading in the water. It was great to see how massive the everglades were. We also saw the show "gater-boys". Then we decided to take a detour and find the new temple that was going to be dedicated that next weekend. It was beautiful. It was too bad we missed the open house, but happy we were able to walk the grounds. Then off to the beach of course! It was perfect weather and water temperature. We body surfed the waves for a couple of hours before we had to head back to the hotel and get ready for Noelle's speech for TD Ameritrade. She did an incredible job as always. They all waited to get pictures and autographs from her afterwards. We then went to the casual dinner after and visited with a few of the employees. We didn't linger for too long and decided to take our dessert up to the room and enjoy some peace and quiet! Thanks for the best Birthday gift Noelle!

Hidden Hollow's special visitor

Noelle took time out of her busy schedule to speak with the kids at Hidden Hollow. She invited Jayden, Skyler, Aysia and her other niece and nephew to come up front and help choose students out of the audience to answer questions. They felt pretty important. She did a great job. It was a little difficult to leave since many of the kids wanted autographs. She not only signed papers, books, and arms, but backpacks, shoes and jackets. I hope all the parents were okay with that :) We were able to sneak her up to Skyler's class for a quick picture with Mrs. Helmandollar's class as well as Aysia's class in the lunch room.

Mommy, Daughter date

Aysia loves plays and watching people dance. So what better way than to spend an evening watching both. The local Junior High put on the production "High School Musical". They did a great job. Aysia was excited to meet a couple of the characters after the play. It was a perfect way to end our "date".

Roasting Time

We were able to take Lacee and Traycen overnight while Janson and Noelle had a conference to attend. So we decided to pull out the hotdogs and marshmallows. We love having a roasting pit in the backyard. The kids could eat hotdogs every night if they could roast them on the fire.

Arsenal road trip

Jayden's soccer team, Arsenal, had an away game in Vernal. Since it was over the weekend, we decided to make it a little overnight trip with the family. We brought Carson along with us, one of Jayden's teammates. We got to the hotel early enough that we met up with a few more teammates staying at the same hotel and let all of the kids go swimming. They had a great time. I took them all to Cafe Rio after for a late night snack. Luke, another teammate, joined us and came back to the room for a movie. The boys did a great job during their game the next day. They came from behind to tie the game! It was a great trip.