Marx Hook Line & Stinker

Bad Day

2011-06-30T22:44:00.000-06:00

Wednesday was a rough day for our family. It started out with a big swimming pool next to our house. One of the sprinkler pipes had broken and there was water shooting out everywhere. Preston was in meetings and wasn't able to come home, so the kids and I gave it a try. We were able to turn the water off and use the shop vac to suck things up before it all went into the crawl space. I was hoping to enjoy the rest of the day after the mess was cleaned up, but after a few hours, this is what happened...

We had a huge wind storm here and it blew 3 of our trees down and onto our neighbor's (Parkside) roof. Luckily it only damaged a little bit of the rain gutter of the neighbors, and it broke some of our fence.

Another view of the trees.

It also blew down 5 sections of our fence. I think most of it is repairable.

Here's my awesome hubby cutting the trees so that we could get them off the the roof. I was pretty nervous when he was climbing the roof with a chain saw in his hands. But he came back down with all his body intact.

I decided to add a cute picture of my little Kate to lighten things up. She loves the slip & slide except she doesn't slide. She just likes to stand in the little pool and the end and play in the water.

This is how Tyson does it. He runs down the whole thing and then does a seat drop at the end.

Just a couple of pictures I wanted to add. The other day I heard a strange noise. I ran in the kitchen to see Kate in the pantry with the Marshmallow Maties. She dumped the whole thing out. It was hard not to get mad. When I got to her, she was really going to town on the marshmallows.

How can you be mad at this cute little girl?

Random Summer Pictures

2011-06-12T19:03:00.000-06:00

This summer is already flying by. We've already gone to 2 family reunions, finished T-ball, half way done with baseball, and started swimming lessons. There are so many different things, that I just need to post a couple of pictures to breifly show what we've been up to.

We went camping in the desert for a family reunion. Kate got to spend some quality time with Grandma.

My sister brought her dog with her and Kate wouldn't let that dog out of her sight. The dog was a pretty good sport about it.

Preston helped catch a horny toad for Tyson. He carried it around on his shoulder for a while until his dad talked him into letting it go.

It has been so hot here lately that running through the sprinklers has become a part of our every day routine.

Kate even jumped in on the fun.

We have been enjoying the warm weather. It seems like every night we have something right at dinner time and it makes it hard to prepare dinner. So we have been having a lot of barbeques. Mostly hamburgers and hot dogs. They're great and fast and we all love them. We had grapes with our hamburgers and the kids thought they were pretty cool as they threw them up in the air and tried to catch them in their mouths. Kayson and Peyton were pretty good at it. Tyson tried to be just like his brothers, but was not as successful. In the end he did actually catch one in his mouth. I don't think anyone was as surprised about it as he was.

After dinner, its a special treat for the kids to hang out with their dad. He plays ball with them in the back yard or jumps on the tramp with them. They love it. He's been so busy lately with work. It seems like the only time we see him is after dinner. This was Kate's special time with her dad. She loves her daddy.

While the other boys were playing baseball in the backyard, Tyson secretly climbed into Kate's old saucer. Unfortunately for him, he got stuck and needed help getting out.

We started swimming lessons again this year. Peyton and Kayson are loving it. This is Peyton doing bobs. He's not even posing for the camera. This is how he looks when he does them. He loves swimming lessons.

Kayson has been practicing his cannon balls. I'm not sure they teach you that in swimming lessons.

Mommy's little helper

2011-05-22T21:06:00.000-06:00

My mom brought us a bucket of about 2 dozen fresh eggs. We set them on the table while we finished watching a show as a family. During the show, Kate quietly dissappeared. After it was over, we turned around and found this.

She didn't get all of the eggs, but probably broke around 8 of them.

I can't believe we couldn't hear her back there.

Eggs are so gross to clean up.

She even tried to help me clean up by picking up some of the shells.(Notice the egg on her face and dress.)

This is after she knew she was in trouble.

A Great Mother's Day Present

2011-05-21T20:54:00.000-06:00

It's been a really long time since I've updated my blog. A big reason is that I haven't had a camera. The kids got a hold of it and it no longer turns on or off any more. But on Mother's Day I got a wonderful surprise... A camera! I really like it. Preston and the kids did a great job. So now I have no excuse not to post any blogs.

I feel so old. My nephew is leaving for his mission in a week. I was able to go to the temple with him last weekend. I was a great day.

We've been spending a lot of time outside. It's so nice to be outside. Kate loves to visit the dog. She puts her hand in and it gives her little kisses.

A really tired boy after a fun day.

Lately Kate thinks it is fun to climb into my bathtub. It drives me crazy because every once in a while she tries to turn on the water.

A little all-star in the making.

Peyton & Kayson are getting really good at baseball. They go in the backyard and practice every day. It's our first year having grass to play on. I love it!

Kayson has been working on catching fly balls. He thinks he needs to dive every time.

Isn't he a great dad! He held Kate the hold time he mowed the lawn. She loved it, until...

She fell asleep.

She loves her daddy.

Another tired kid after a long, hot, fun day

We all love warm days.

PUPPIES!

2010-08-31T22:11:00.000-06:00

A little background. My dad is into hunting dogs. He has about 5 German Shorthair dogs. He is very particular about the breeding of his dogs. They all go back to some kind of dog champion on both sides of the dog. He is also particular about who he sells his dogs to. So it was supposed to be a big compliment when he offered to give Preston one of his puppies. That was 3 years ago. Around the the 4th of July this year, our dog got out of her kennel and ran away. She was gone for 3 days. We found her wandering the streets and put her back in her kennel. Okay, so lets bring you back pretty close to the present. A week ago, I sent Kayson out to let the dog out and give her water. He came running back in all out of breath. he brought me some pretty surprising news. PUPPIES! Sprinkles our dog had had puppies. (Yes her name is Sprinkles. Kayson named her) I had no idea she was pregnant. Six cute little brown puppies. Apparently she must of had a pretty fun 4th of July. Here are the puppies a week old.

Not a very good picture, but still really cute.

Here's mama Sprinkles. I am not a dog lover, but this seriously is the best dog. She is a great hunter (from what I hear from Preston), she fetches, is really good with our kids (never jumps up on them), doesn't bark or howl, and goes to her kennel when called. She is a really mild dog. I have to admit I kind of like her.

So here's my little plea. These cute little puppies are a week old now, and in 5 more weeks will be needing a new home. I can't have 7 dogs. If you want a puppy or know someone who does, they're yours. I'm sure with a mom like they have, they will be good dogs. Come on, look how cute they are.

So enough of the promoting. On to everyday life. Along with school starting, soccer started too. Kayson and Peyton are playing soccer. This is the first year we've put them in it. I don't know why we waited. They are naturals. It is so fun to watch them.

Here are a couple of pictures of Kayson playing in his first game. I couldn't find the camera in time for Peyton's first game, so next game I'll get some pictures to share.

The BIG Project

I have been wanting grass in our backyard so bad. And it looks like my wish might actually come true. These are some pretty boring pictures, but I have to show our work. Not too long ago, all this dirt used to have huge weeds in it. They were so big and so thick that we had all my nephews and nieces come over and play night games in them. All they had to do was duck in the weeds and they were gone. Preston has been working so hard trying to get it ready for the sod. My dad came over and used his tractor to help smooth out any bumps.

That little thing in the ground in the back is the trampoline. We decided to bury it while we were doing all the other work. Just a little advice for those thinking about it. Harder than it looks. Our sod comes a week from tomorrow. We will be pushing it to get everything done on time. Any prayers are appreciated.

While helping, my dad decided to give Tyson and they neighbor kids a ride around in the bucket of the tractor. They loved it.

Hopefully next weeks post will be some pictures of the new grass.

After party party

2010-08-16T23:13:00.000-06:00

I forgot to post a few pictures. About 5 minutes after we got home from the birthday party, we had a little rain storm. It only lasted 5 minutes, but it poured. We live in the middle of a hill, so we had a lot of water running past our house. The boys were letting their toys float down the water until the water got too full and fast and swept their toys away. Then they just decided that it would be fun to lay down in it. Pretty gross, but I let them do it anyway. They had fun.

Tyson's pants got so wet and heavy that they were starting to fall down.

Happy Birthday Kayson!

2010-08-16T22:55:00.000-06:00

Sunday was Kayson's 7th birthday. I can't believe that I have a kid that old. It makes me sad that he's growing up so fast. But on the other hand, I have 4 kids and if they all stayed little I think I would go crazy. I'm already border line crazy as it is. Since it's his birthday, I thought I'd brag and give a few little highlights on his life. He was born on August 15th 2003 by C-section after 31 hours of labor. He learned how to crawl at 11 months. A little slow, but learned how to walk the next month. He learned all the names and sounds of the alphabet at the age of two after watching "The letter factory" only 3 times. At the age of 3, he taught himself how to read. At age 4 he had gone fishing enough times with his dad and grandpa that he knew how to cast an open-faced reel all by himself. At age 5, Kayson learned how to ride a two-wheeler. At age six, Kayson finished top of his class in Kindergarten. He also got interested in math and started to learn his times tables. At age 7, Kayson is the big helper around the house. Every morning when his baby sister wakes up, he runs into her room, gets her out of her crib, brings her down to her mom, and then makes her a bottle. He also changes the laundry from the washer to the dryer for his mom. That is just a few little highlights of his life. Kayson you are amazing. We love you so much. Happy Birthday!

I just noticed that these are a little out of order. Here's the birthday boy with his brothers with all of his gifts. He really was a lot happier than he looks.

Kate loved watching Kayson open his presents

On Sunday we had all the extended family over that lived in town and had cake and ice cream.

Kate liked the balloons we had all over the house.

We were all beat from all the fun, especially Dad.

Birthday party # 2

Today we had another birthday party. Sunday was for family, and Monday was for friends. I was a little frazzled trying to get everything ready and I forgot my camera. Lucky for me, my sister-in-law Jennifer came and saved the day. She came first thing in the morning and helped bake, decorate and babysit for me. She was a life saver. Thanks Jen!

We played pin the baseball on the catcher's glove. I don't know what it is, but Kayson really likes this game, so every birthday we make a new poster and something to pin on it. Last year we played pin the eye patch on the pirate. I'm glad he's not that picky about what the picture looks like because his mom isn't that great of an artist.

I think the party turned out really well. The kids all seemed like they had a good time. We had a pinata, ate more cake and ice cream, and each of the kids left with a bag of party favors and a whole bunch of candy. I was a good day for everyone.

Today's "Tyson of the day"

2010-07-28T00:23:00.000-06:00

I don't have any pictures this time. Preston has my camera at work. I thought I would write a quick blog to tell about the "Tyson of the day". I thought I would do something besides watching TV, so I turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and then went outside to mow the front lawn. My kids are TV zombies, so I figured the show would keep them busy long enough for me to get it done. We don't have a very big front yard so it only took me about 15 minutes. When I came back in, I found the "Tyson of the day". Apparently the show didn't distract the one I wanted it to. I went to my bedroom and found that Tyson had gone to the fridge, gotten out the left over creamed peas, and had taken them back to my room to eat. They were spilled all over my comforter on my bed. Besides the peas, there was some other white smears. Those same smears were on the nightstand and the recliner. On the floor by the recliner I found the half empty tube of toothpaste. From the bedroom I walked into the family room to find Kate's saucer filled with salt. The salt trail continued from the saucer to the bench of the fireplace. From there it continued into the kitchen where it ended and the empty salt container lay. He dumped out a full container of salt. By this time I was pretty frustrated and went and found Tyson. When he turned around to see me, he had a white skunk-like streak from his forehead to the back of his head. In his hand he had my deodorant. It's amazing what a 2 year old can do in 15 minutes. The other 2 kids didn't even notice he had done anything because they were glued to the TV. I guess that's what I get for using the TV as a babysitter. From now on, I'll leave the lawn mowing to Preston.

Preston's Rough Day

2010-07-06T00:22:00.000-06:00

I guess the nice relaxing weekend had to end sometime and real life would start again. Preston has been playing basketball every morning at 5:30. This morning he came back limping. He came down on someone's foot and sprained his ankle. That was the way the day started. A few hours later, I went outside in the backyard and started weedeating. Preston put on an ankle brace and thought he would help me by mowing down some of our weeds. (For anyone who has seen our backyard, you know we have a jungle in our backyard made of weeds.) I heard the lawn mower make a funny noise and stop. I looked over to see Preston turn it off and turn it over to look at it. Then a minute later, I heard him yell. Long story short, the mower was off, but when he moved the thing that was caught in the blade, it came down and sliced 3 of his fingers. After a trip to the hospital and some medical super glue, this is what his fingers looked like. The picture doesn't do justice to the injuries. The cuts are pretty deep. Each one cut down deep and cut through where his fingernails were growing under the skin. He's starting to really feel it now.

I had let the kids turn on the hose and play with the water while they jumped on the tramp while I was working on the yard. So when we had the little accident, I had forgotten all about the water. My sister had come over to watch the kids while we were gone. Kate was asleep in the house, so my sister stayed inside with her. When we came back from the hospital, we went outside and this is what we found.

They had made their own little backyard mud pond

Every inch of them is covered in mud

They had a ball

I tried to take a couple of pictures of Tyson and right when I snapped one, he put a muddy spoonful of water in his mouth. Yuck!

So that was our day today. Pretty rough for Preston. But fun for the kids.

Roughin' It In The Outdoors

2010-07-04T16:57:00.000-06:00

We have been wanting to go camping with our family and we finally made it work this weekend. We went up to Pole Creek. When we got out of the truck, we were attacked by mosquitos. They were really bad. I took Kate and we went and hid in the trailer. After a while of hiding out, we decided to go fishing with the whole family.

Preston and Peyton tried to catch a few fish

Kayson loves fishing like his dad and is getting pretty good at it

This is Tyson fishing. We couldn't keep him out of the water.

Preston kept making fun of the hat I made Kate wear. I was just trying to protect her from the sun and the bugs. But she didn't mind the hat at all.

After a day and a night at the campground, we decided that the mosquitos were too bad and we decided to pack up and move a little lower on the mountain. We found a really pretty place without the mosquitos. It was perfect.

We brought the boys' bikes with us and the new place had a nice soft grassy road for the boys to ride on. Preston took Peyton's training wheels off and he caught on really fast to the two-wheeler.

After riding bikes, we decided to go for a little stroll.

After the walk, we hung out at camp. The boys ran around, Kate hung out on the blanket, and we started our tin foil dinners. It was really nice and relaxing.Day 3 wasn't quite as nice as day 2. The wind and the rain came so we all hung out in the trailer. Here are the boys trying to make funny faces since we were stuck in the trailer.

Here we all are in the trailer. After a little while being all together in a tiny space, we decided to pack things up and come home. Dispite the mosquitos, the rain and wind, we all had a great time. It was really relaxing. Just what we all needed.

A quick "Tyson of the day"

2010-06-29T14:35:00.000-06:00

Just had a quick "Tyson of the day" to share. This morning Tyson went straight for the kitten and played with it. He knows it isn't allowed in the house. So he'll put it up by the door and opens the door. He thinks if it comes in by itself then he won't get in trouble for bringing it in. Anyway, he was outside playing with it, and I told him to leave the kitty outside and we needed to leave to go to swimming lessons. He put the kitty down and came in. I went in the other room and put Kate in her carseat. I came back in and asked Tyson where the kitty was. He told me it was outside. I thought I had better check so I walked around outside. I couldn't see it anywhere. So I came inside and did a quick walkthrough to make sure it wasn't in the house. I couldn't see it. I thought it probably got smart and ran and hid outside. So we left. We came back about 3 hours later. I checked outside to see if the kitty was around. It still wasn't where I could see it. I came back inside and started cleaning up the kitchen, and then I heard a faint meow. It was somewhere in the kitchen. It meowed a few more times. We tried to be really quiet so we could hear where it was coming from. It was like playing that "you're getting warmer" game that kids always play. We checked in all the cupboards and pulled out all the drawers. We couldn't find it. Finally after a lot more meows, we decided it was coming from under the dishwasher. In the end after getting the screwdrivers out, we got the kitty out from under the dishwasher. Tyson didn't want to have the kitty outside and had tried to hide it. It ended up not being so bad. The kitty is fine and is outside. And things are back to normal. Hopefully that is the only "Tyson of the day" today.

New Addition!

2010-06-27T23:11:00.000-06:00

New Addition

It's a kitty! I'm not sure Preston and I are as excited as Tyson. He never puts that kitty down. Our neighbors have a kitten, and for the past 2 weeks Tyson has been sneaking out the door and going over there for the kitten. I bet I go over there to get him at least 8 times a day. It only took Preston one day of watching him to decide we were going to get him his own kitty. So here he or she is. (We haven't found out yet)

The kitten is grey and white. Here are a couple of names that the kids have thought of. Peyton's names: Rainbow, or Brownie. Tyson's names: Cat, or Meow. Kayson's names: Silver Bullet.

I'm not sure we've all agreed on one name yet. I'll have to update when we decide.

Evening Trampoline Fun

Almost every night the boys beg their dad to go out and jump on the tramp with them. All the boys have been working on their flips. Even Preston has been getting in on it. That's what these next 2 pictures are of. It looks like they are going to land on their heads, but they landed alright.

This last one is a picture of Preston giving Kayson a "Super Bounce". This is their favorite part of jumping with their dad. He bounces them really high in the air and sees if they can land on their feet.

Dinner Time! The "Tyson of the day"

I can't remember if I have shared "Tyson of the day" before. Tyson seems to always keep me busy and usually does at least one thing every day that really frustrates me. My sisters think it is hillarious. They started calling them the "Tyson of the day". Some past "Tysons of the day" have been covering the whole frige in red and blue permenant marker, turning on the full blender without the lid on it, and flushing a lemon down the toilet. So here is today's "Tyson of the day". Here is a picture of the victim. Kate just started eating baby food. I had just given Kate some peaches. She ate them, and then I cleaned her up. I put her in her saucer and walked into my room. A minute later I heard her crying. I walked in and Tyson had gone into the kitchen, gotten the rest of the baby food and had tried to feed her. I don't think she got any in her mouth. There was a trail of food from the kitchen table to the saucer in the front room. The smile on her face is relief to see someone that was going to save her, not that she was enjoying the free food.Here's the suspect with no remorse what-so-ever. He was pretty proud of himself.

Summer's Finally Here!

2010-06-06T22:09:00.000-06:00

Fishing Trips have already started

Peyton graduated from Preschool!

T-Ball Came and went. The boys loved it.

Peyton wasn't too happy when the other team got him out.

Here are some cute pictures of Kate

Preston dressed Kate up in some of the boys' old baby clothes. He thought he was pretty funny. She does look a lot like the rest of her brothers.

She is such a good baby. She loves to smile.

Fishing "Trip"

2010-06-06T21:25:00.000-06:00

I planned on making this a long post, but after I started, the add image button stopped working. So here are just a few things. I'll try to post the other pictures tomorrow.

Tyson sometimes finds the make-up and tries some of it. That mustache is made out of mascara. That face he is making looked pretty close to what his mom's face looked like she saw him. The other picture, he got mad at me and went to pout in the laundry room and ended up falling asleep.

Bath Time

This is Kate. I just have to put that because without pink clothes and headbands, she could be mistaken for any of her brothers at that age.

So here's where the fishing comes in. Our latest news happened last night. Preston went with his dad and brother fishing on the river. They decided to take Kayson with them. While they were walking, Kayson tripped on a log and fell. He got up and came and told his dad that he hurt his knee. He wasn't crying. He just said that he scratched his knee a little. They continued to fish and on the way home, Kayson fell asleep. So today he showed me his sore. It just looked like a small hole, like he had fallen on a small rock. At church he said that his knee was hurting so after church we took another look at it. It was swollen and so Preston and I thought it must have a sliver in it. We couldn't see anything in it so we had to dig in his skin a little ways. Kayson was really tough and after a while of digging at it, Preston pulled out a huge thorn or stick. He even had to use some pliers to pull it out. It was pretty creapy looking. It was over an inch long and it was pretty thick. The picture just doesn't give it justice. The other picture is of his knee. We drew a circle around the area that was swollen and red, just so we can check it tomorrow and make sure it doesn't keep swelling. Kayson is feeling fine now.

Catch Up

2010-02-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

Catch up

Here are some pictures of some things that we did over the past few weeks. They aren't in any kind of order. They are just some random pictures.

Kayson wrestling with his cousin Dallin

"Do you know the Muffin Man?" Peyton had to dress up as a nursery rhyme for preschool.

Sleepy little girl

On January 23, Tyson had his 2nd birthday. We had cupcakes in icecream cones, went swimming, and then went to Chuck E Cheese.

All 3 boys at Chuck E Cheese.

All the car rides were Tyson's favorites.

Preston and his brothers going ice fishing.

I had to put this picture up. Kate crosses her eyes a lot. She always makes me laugh.

Grandma Miller holding Kate. She held Kate the whole Christmas break. We love Grandma Miller!

All ready for church

Kate in her Christmas dress. Her legs are so skinny that the tights look more like baggy white pants.

Kate's Blessing

2010-02-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

2 Months Old

It was Kate's blessing today. It was a really good day. The blessing was so special. Preston always does such a good job. I always feel the spirit so strong when we bless our babies. There were a lot of happy tears shed today. Mostly by me. We had a lot of family and friends come and support us. We had some good food after the blessing. I didn't realize how big our families were until they were all at our house.

My sister-in-law, Crystal, came and took some pictures of Kate for us. She does such a good job. I put just a couple on here so you could see them.

This is my favorite picture. That little girl has here dad wrapped around her little finger.Two great baby sitters!

Here are some pictures of Kate. I couldn't get enough pictures of her. She looked so pretty in her dress. These are pictures that Crystal took.

Craig and Niyah. She is such a cute little girl. Tyson kept taking away any toy away from her. Hopefully in the future, they can become better friends.

My niece Ali and my little sister Melissa came to support us.

My Grandma came. Aren't grandmas the best.

It was a great day. We love our family.

2009-12-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

It's a girl!

On December 8th at 8:08am we had a new addition to our family. Kate Marx was born weighing 6lbs 2oz and is 18 1/2 inches long. We are all so excited to have her here especially Mom. (Kate 2 days old)

She is so much smaller than our boys were. Although her feet and fingers are long and skinny.

(Kate 1 week old)

The proud Daddy. Preston has to hold her every chance he gets. He has been worried about what to do with a little girl, but I can already see she is going to be Daddy's little girl. She has him wrapped around her little finger.

Kayson has been my big helper. Since I can't move around very fast, he helps me by getting diapers, and other things I need.

Peyton loves his little sister. Every time he sees her he says, "She's so cute, huh". He likes to pick out her clothes for the day. Although she doesn't have anything that fits her right now. For the first 2 days she wouldn't eat anything. It was really sad and frustrating. She dropped her weight down to 5lbs 6oz. I was getting really worried, but since then she has figured the eating thing out and is starting to gain the weight back. At 6 days, she had gained 7 oz and weighed 5lbs 13 oz.

Tyson loves his baby. He loves to hold her and thinks she is his. He of all my boys is having the hardest time. He wants to sit on his mom's lap all the time. It's hard because I know he is missing the time he had with his mom before the baby. He has been wrapping himself up in all the baby blankets, laying down in the bassinet, and has even tried to drink one of her bottles.

Tyson with some of his sisters bows in his hair. He wants to have everything his sister has.

Preston has been so good to me and the boys. He has taken off quite a few days of work to help out. Besides cleaning the house, picking up kids from kindergarten, and making sure everyone gets fed, he has been playing with the boys and making sure they have a good time with their dad. He took them sledding yesterday. They had a ball.

Peyton fell in the snow a few times and got his face cold, but he was a good sport about it most of the time.

Kayson loves the snow and has been playing in it everyday since it has snowed.

Tyson loves the snow, but gets cold fast and wants to go inside.

Kayson's Birthday

2009-08-19T13:18:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday Kayson! 6 Years Old!

Grandma & Grandpa came over for cake and icecream.

Kayson blowing out his candles. Tyson was by his side ready to dig into the cake.

We had a pinata. Peyton tried his best.

Kayson gave a couple of good swings too.

One of Kayson's cousins wanted to buy Kayson a birthday gift with her own money, so she went down the street to a yard sale and got him this cowboy hat.

Peyton went with his mom to get Kayson a new bike. He did a really good job keeping a secret.

Kayson giving Peyton a hug and telling him "Thanks" for his new bike. He had a great birthday. He is getting so big. It's hard for me to see him growing up. He's going to Kindergarten in a couple of weeks and I'm sad that he will be gone for part of the day. He helps me out so much. He has always been my boy that never wants to dissappoint his mom or dad. I love you Kayson!

Happy Birthday!

Summer Review

2009-08-19T12:19:00.000-06:00

This summer seems to have gone by fast. We have had so much going on. I feel like we haven't had a free day fof a long time. So since I've been a slacker on updating my blog, here's a quick catch-up page. Here's what our summer has been like.
Kayson has been taking piano lessons and had his first recital. He did great!

Preston took us all on our frist trip to catch crawdads. We had a ball.

Preston even got a little wet trying to get the ones that fell out of the bucket.
Here's a picture of some that we kept. We caught around 300 of them.

This is kind of hard to see, but this chipmunk kept coming close to us. So I held out a chip and it came and ate it right out of my hand. It was really neat.
We did some camping and fishing. We love the outdoors. Tyson loved watching his brothers and dad catch fish.
Kayson with his cousin Braden fishing at the Nielsen reunion. He's following in his dad's footsteps.

These aren't goose eggs. These are mosquito bites. He got them all over his forehead. It looked like someone took a hammer to his head. His eyes even got a little puffy. He looked pretty beat by the time we got home.
Kayson & Peyton down at Polecreek cave.
I love the mountains. It's so pretty up there. Peyton likes being up there too.
We always return home a lot dirtier than we came.

Peyton and his cousin Parker trying to catch some waterballons in their towel. We did a lot of fun water games.

Preston & I played a lot of softball. Unfortunately, there were some injuries.

Preston's ankle he sprained in a softball game.

We had a great summer, but I think we are all exhausted. We are all ready to get back into our old routines.

Peyton after one of our many rides home from family activites.

Tyson enjoyed the summer too.

That was a brief review of our summer. I'll try to do a better job updating from now on.

Busy Week

2009-05-16T11:51:00.000-06:00

I'm doing some catch up. A few weeks ago we got a new addition to the Marx family, a trampoline. The boys had had a rough month. There has been a lot of fighting and whining. We decided to try to bribe them into being good. We made a chart for the boys and told them that if they cold fill up all the spots with stickers they could get a trampoline. Preston and I had already talked about getting one for the boys. This way we could hit two birds with one stone. The boys tried really hard. The fighting slowed down and they were sharing their toys. Doing everything they could to gain stickers on their chart. There were still times they had to take stickers off for being bad. So far there haven't been any injuries (knock on wood). The kids love it.

(Left: Kayson can already do front flips. This picture looks like he landed on his head, but he rotated around and landed on his bum.)

This past week we also had our first T-ball games. Both boys hit the ball really well. Kayson even got some outs at first base. Peyton was so funny to watch. He is the youngest on the team. His shirt is so big, it comes down to his shins. They really liked playing. They also like that someone brings a after-the-game treat every game.

We also planted a garden this week. We did some corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and some squash. We'll have to see what survives. The other day, I watered the garden with the sprinklers. The boys started to run through it. They were really good to stay on the side of the garden and not run through it. Kind of pathetic that they had to use the sprinkler in the garden to run through. One day we'll have a lawn in the back yard they can play on.

Speaking of yards, this week we've been getting our front yard ready to put in. Preston has been working on our sprinkling system in the front yard and has almost finished it. The boys have been a lot of help with it also. Tyson just likes being outside. He sometimes isn't as big of a help as the older boys.

Tyson found some water in a big hole and thought it looked like a good swimming pool.

Kayson really did help his dad a lot. He even helped clean up the dirt off the sidewalk when they were done.

Graduation

On Friday, Kayson graduated from preschool. He is getting so big. It's kind of sad to think that I have a son that is going to be in Kindergarten next fall. After his graduation, I talked with him and told him that I was proud of him. He was really cute and said that he was so happy that "his eyes were starting to drip". He is such a soft-hearted little boy.

This is Kayson getting his graduation certificate.

Lake Powell

2009-05-08T21:47:00.000-06:00

Lake Powell

I finally got the camera back so now I can show the Lake Powell pictures. Preston,Kayson, Preston's dad and his brother Sterling went down to Lake Powell last Wednesday and stayed until Saturday. Kayson had a blast. When he came home, he was so excited to tell everyone what kind of fish they caught and how little his Uncle Sterling's fish was.

This is one of Sterling's fish. Believe it or not, this wasn't the smallest fish Sterling caught on the trip.

This is Kayson wearing Preston's jacket so he wouldn't get wet.

The boys had a few problems when they got to the lake. First, when they went to start the boat, the battery didn't work. Luckily they found someone with a charger and were able to get the boat started. The next problem was when they tried to set up camp. They went to put up the tent, and when they unrolled it, there weren't any poles in it to set it up with. So they just layed it out flat and slept under the stars.

Kayson would just lay down and take a nap when he was done fishing.

Kayson wanted his picture on the bridge.

While the older boys were at Lake Powell, Mom and Peyton and Tyson stayed home. Peyton and I went to Monsters Vs Aliens the movie. It was nice to spend some one-on-one time with him. We had a lot of fun when they were gone, but we were excited to see them come home.

This wasn't at Lake Powell, but I just wanted to show some cute pictures of my handsome boys. The boys have their own bathroom upstairs, but I think they have taken more baths in my tub than theirs.
This is a few of us waiting in the car. I had to make sure I didn't get out of the car because Tyson loves to lock the doors. While the boys were gone to Lake Powell, my mom watched Tyson while I went with Peyton to rent a movie. When I had gotten back, my mom was outside walking around the car. Apparently she wanted to move her car from one side of the driveway to the other. She let Tyson sit up in the driver seat and pretend to drive. After she moved it, she got out and went around to open the other door. As she did this, he locked at the doors. She had happened to have both set of keys in the car. Luckily the car was parked in the cool garage. We spent 30 minutes trying to get him to push the unlock button. He had a blast in there. He pushed all the buttons, made faces as he pushed his face up against the window, and even found some chocolate candies in the car. He had a ball! With the help of a flashlight shining on the unlock button, we finally got him out. He never cried the whole time he was in there. I think he had a ball in there.

That's all I will do today.

Fishing

2009-04-19T22:24:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post.

This is for Preston's dad. I just had to post that I went fishing with Preston, his dad, and Kayson & Peyton. I haven't fished for over a year, but decided to go for a break from our littlest boy. I beat everyone fishing by catching 3 fish. Preston caught 1 fish, and Larry caught a great big 0. I just wanted to post and remind him that he got skunked! Just wanted to get him all riled up. I wish I had some pictures because the boys looked really cute. They must be true Marx's because they love fishing with their dad and grandpa. The batteries were charging on our camera so I don't have any picts of it.

After we came home we worked on the front yard. Hopefully next Saturday we can start putting in some of the sprinklers. I'll take some pictures to show our progress.

April Fools Day

2009-04-01T22:48:00.000-06:00

I forgot to tell about one of my piano students. I taught piano lessons today to a 7 year old boy named Caydon. . When he was a baby he had cancer somewhere in his head. I'm not sure what kind or any details, but in order to try to get rid of it, the doctors had to remove one of his eyes. He now has a glass eye in that eye. When he came in to lessons, he was so excited. He said, "I played an April Fools Day joke on my classmates. They didn't know I had a fake eye, so I took it out and put it on my tongue." He popped it out and pretended like he was going to eat it. Pretty gross, but funny. I just had to share that. If you have a better April Fools Day joke better than that, I'd like to hear about it.

No More Snow!

2009-04-01T21:20:00.000-06:00

I am so tired of snow. Just when I thought we had seen the end, it comes back again. We got the "spring itch". We started phase 2 of the retaining wall project. I think there will probably be a phase 2, 3, 4, & 5. We have our work cut out for us. I didn't realize how hard it is to put in a yard. I don't even know where to start.

This is the retaining wall. It's one of the boys' favorite place to play. Preston has worked really hard on it.

In these few really nice days, we went through the shed and cleaned a few things out. During our cleaning we found our baseball stuff. We also found an old batting helmet. Kayson and Peyton were so excited about the helmet that they had to play baseball right then. So we pulled out the bats and balls and had a game of baseball in the back yard. I guess that's one good thing about not having a yard, you don't have to worry about any trees or ruining anything else. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of us wearing the batting helmet.

I know this might surprise you, but the helmet wasn't that big on Peyton.

Kayson is becoming a really good left-handed batter. We just signed him up for baseball. It will be fun watching him play with other kids his age.

Tyson even gave batting a shot.

Preston took a turn at bat with the mighty Kayson pitching to him. But he showed his boys that he still has it, and hit the ball past the dog kennel (which was the homerun mark).

Now that the warm days have left and the Roosevelt cold wind is here, the boys have had to play inside. I hope it warms up soon. I'm not sure I can take it much longer. They're getting restless in the house.

Tyson is getting into everything. He thinks he is such a big boy. Yesterday I told him it was time for a nap, and so he ran into his brothers' room and climbed up on Peyton's bed and layed down. I'm not sure he would stay there and sleep if I let him. So for at least a little while longer, he will be sleeping in his crib. When he's awake, he has such a personality. He knows what he wants. He gets so mad when you stop him from doing something he wants to do. He has started getting into everything. We have to be really careful about shutting the bathroom door. If it is open, he's in there playing in the toilet. Another favorite place to play is in the pantry. I don't mind this one as bad as the bathroom, but I don't like that he pulls everything off the shelves.

This is Tyson in the pantry. He's found the honey bear and is sucking on it like a bottle. He was so mad at me when I took it away. You can see he knows how to find a way to get things on the higher shelves.

We're bloggers!

2009-02-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

We finally did it. We got a blog. We thought we would share some pictures from Mexico and spread some news. Most of our trip was spent checking out the ruins. They are amazing. I can't believe they have been there for over a thousand years. The Mayans must have been in good shape. After climbing the ruins, Preston and I were sweating like crazy. Some of the temples were really tall. I am a little afraid of heights, and Preston thought it was so funny to take pictures of me coming down because I could only go down the stairs one foot at a time.

We got to see a lot of cool ruins. The first ones we saw were out in the open with some trees surrounding the outside of the ruins. The others that we saw were right in the middle of the jungle.

Preston At Chichen Itza. We couldn't climb this one.

One set of ruins were located right on a cliff that overlooked the ocean. The ocean there is so blue and pretty. We got to go there on my birthday. After looking at the ruins, we went down to the beach. I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday than with my husband on the beach. I'll save you all from those pictures. No one wants to see me in a swimsuit. On Thursday we went to the country of Belize. To get to those ruins we had to take a boat up the river. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We got to see a lot of wild life. We saw all sorts of cranes and other birds, bats, a few turtles, a spider monkey (that we got to feed a banana to), and even a crocodile.

This crocodile just sat there and let us take pictures of him.

I won't bore you with anymore pictures of our trip. We do have some news to share. On Sunday Preston was called to be the 1st Councelor in the Bishopric and was ordained to a High Priest. We're not sure how we feel about it yet. But I know that Preston will fulfill his calling to the fullest. It's me who is not sure how I'm going to survive Sacrament Meeting every Sunday. Especially when I'm up on the stand playing the organ. I'd be okay if the new bishopric got rid of that calling.

One last thing. Right before we left for Mexico, Tyson started to take a few steps. When we got back, we found out that we had a little walker. He's still a little shaky, but he walks all over the place. I think all of our kids grew 3 inches while we were gone. They look so big and old. It's kind of sad.

This isn't a picture of him walking, but isn't he cute?

Anyway, that's all for today.