Busy Week

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

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

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

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!

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!

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.