A Day With Kate!

                                                          Katie having fun in the pool!The Boys and Katie helping me make monster cookies, they have everything in them...peanut butter, m&m's, oatmeal, chocolate chips, and more. They turned out really good and the kids loved helping. There is no flour in the cookies, so i thought it was a lot less messy with the kids!

Our niece Katie has been visiting from Michigan. On Thursday, she came to our house. During the day we swam and the boys and Katie helped me make cookies. In the evening we took her to our friends the Williams for a barbeque and more swimming! It was a fun day the boys love playing with their cousin Katie. We're glad she has been able to spend time with us this summer. We ended our night eating popcorn and watching the Olympics!



Thanks to the Williams for letting us swim in their  amazing pool. It had everything, sooooo fun!

Iverson, Dobbs, Abbott Weekend Cabin Trip!

Luke, Teja, Riley, Kyle, Josh, Dakota, Cade and Roxy last pic before we have to leave!

Cade riding Dakota's little four wheeler. I was a little nervous. Jason only had to help him a couple of times before he was off riding on his own. He loved it, that is all he asked to do most of the weekend.

We arrived home on Sunday night from our weekend trip to the cabin.  We drove Friday morning about 6:30am and followed the Iverson's. We stopped and ate at a great pizza place in Cedar City. We bought groceries, I had to run to Payless, and pick up shoes for Luke, since I put him in the car with no shoes on and didn't notice until we were almost to Utah. Then we headed up the mountain to Cedar Breaks. This is our third trip with  Shawn and Kim, we appreciate them always inviting us. We had a great time. Brady and Brandi met us up there on Saturday afternoon. Between all of us we had 9 kids with us! Bed time was fun, we put half of them on the air mattress and the other half on a futon. They loved it! There cabin is located in a beautiful Valley. We took walks to the creek, 4 wheeled, fished, and had a lot of yummy food. We stayed up late playing games after the kids went to sleep. It was fun getting together with good friends!

Me and Kim!   Jason helping  Josh! Josh also took a few rides without any help he was a bit more scary to watch he wasn't as smooth as Cade, and he is only 5, you have to be six to drive one. But he also did great, i was surprised at how fast they picked up on maneuvering those things!

                                                               Cade and Dakota

Some of the kids on the back of Shawn's Rhino! They had a blast going on rides in that.

June & July Festivities!

The last week of June,  Jason and I went on a 5 day trip to Cancun! It was relaxing, tropical, and so much fun. It was a Toyota Trip, which means all expenses are paid for!  All we had to worry about was getting to the airport on time. And thanks to my mother- in -law we are able to leave the kids with no worries. Many people asked us if this is the first time we have left our kids, but because of these trips Toyota sends us on we have had the opportunity to take a few trips by ourselves in the past few years. We feel very fortunate! The trips are always amazing. Cancun was no exception, we snorkeled, saw amazing exotic animals, went to a theme park , dancing, and lots of great food. We're still trying to work off all the food we ate while we were there.  

We also had a very busy July. The month started out with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Wood. They came here from Utah and the boys were so happy to see them. 

The 4th of July started out with a ward breakfast and water fight in the church parking lot. The kids had their squirt guns. There were water balloons and they even got out the firehose. So fun! When Jason came home from work we swam and barbequed, Jason's family came over and we shot off fire works in our front yard with our neighbors. 

July 16th, Cade had his Kindergarten graduation. It was so neat, they sang danced a little, there was a slide show and of course the handing out the diplomas. I did get a little teary eyed watching him and just thinking of how time is going to pass so quickly. 

We also had visits from my parents who stayed for almost a week and my aunt and two cousins stayed with us for a few days also. It has been a busy month, but lots of fun!

June 6, 2008

Josh turns 5!

Josh was born on June 6, 2003. We had just moved into our new home in North Las Vegas when little Joshua Cruz arrived. I was scheduled to be induced and highly anticipating his arrival when the hospital called to tell us they were full and that they would have to reschedule us the following day. The next day they called again and were still full. My mom came into town and stayed with  Cade while Jason took me to the hospital, once we were finally admitted. 

Josh was a great baby. He actually slept a few hours at night and started sleeping through the night at about 4 months old. Which was a big contrast to his older brother, who only slept in 2 hour increments until he was over 1 years old!  

Josh is our little comedian and loves his two brothers. He is always finding ways to make us laugh. We don't know what we would do without him!  Although Jason was a little shocked when I told him that I was pregnant with Josh, he actually had to sit down, I thought he was going to hyperventilate. Cade was only 9 months old, and we were in a one bedroom apartment. I guess he forgot how we got Cade! After the initial shock Jason was as excited as I was. 

   

Josh's first haircut he giggled the whole time. Grandma Echols gave him his first haircut, she could not believe how good he was! Grandpa Echols holding Josh and Selena!

Josh's 5th birthday party! He actually had two parties. An afternoon party with his friends,and an evening party with family. It was a busy day. Both were pool parties, pizza was served in the afternoon and hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner, all of Josh's favorite foods.
It was a dinosaur theme. Josh loves T-Rex's! He was persistent about having another dinosaur party, it was also his choice last year.

Showing off his cookies we made from his preshcool kitchen bag he got to bring home one week.

Josh at his 2. Wearing his Nemo hat, aunt Laura bought him in Mexico.

Josh wearing grandpa Echols glasses

Josh with grandpa Abbott at father and sons. The boys call it "Man Camp", Josh went two times in May, once with our ward and again with grandpa Abbott's ward!

Bugz Play, Portland, preschool graduation.....Busy Weekend!

      Daddy, just home from work and just in time to make it to Cade's highly anticipated play!

Last Thursday, Cade had his end of the year kindergarten play. "The Bugz Play" consists of many different types of little buggies with music and some dancing. Soooo cute!! My little bug was an army ant. He knew all of his lines and everyone else's too! Grandma Abbott was there, Cade was happy about that!

  

The day after  Cade's play, I flew to Portland without kids and husband,  to see Ben and Sarah's new baby girl. They were blessing her that weekend so most of my siblings and I decided to make it a weekend and fly up to see them.  It was a fun weekend. I was in shock with all the trees and grass, , so beautiful!   

Julie and Baby Gwen Isabel.
My mom and dad with Ben, Sarah and Gwen. Sarah and her mother designed and sewed the baby's blessing dress. It was silk with pleats, so adorable. They are both very talented.
Laura and Baby Gwen.Sooo cute!
Me with Sarah and Ben after the blessing.I gave Gwen  a couple of bows that, a friend, Mandy Harris, made for her, thanks Mandy!
 In front of Ben and Sarah's home are huge beautiful Christmas trees. Had to take a picture.Family at Cannon Beach in Portland. Mom was freezing! It was probably in the mid 60's that day. We had amazing clam chowder and other seafood at Mo's Restaurant that day.I flew back home on Monday night. Tuesday morning Josh had his preschool graduation. He has loved this year in Mrs. Dove's class. He has learned so much and has had a fun time too. Mrs. Dove made graduation shirts for the kids that has a picture that they each drew with their names signed.

Mrs. Dove is admiring Josh's cute dimples and lovable personality.

Josh with his good friend Riley Cropper.

Sprayed with the hose!

This afternoon the boys were eating popsicles outside. When they were done I got the hose out and sprayed off the patio the boys decided they wanted to get sprayed too! Thought I'd share some pics!                                              Luke and Josh love the water!

Notice a cut on Luke's forehead, two days ago he was attacking Cade with a sword. As Cade was running from Luke, he decided to throw his star wars lightsaber over his head to stop Luke. It definitely stopped him. He was screaming. When I got to him he had blood running down his face and a huge lump on his head. I had never seen an injury like it. The lump appeared immediately, just like in the old cartoons! I got the bleeding to stop and of course a band aid made everything better. By the next day the lump had gone way down. There is never a dull moment with three boys!

    Josh is way into ladybugs lately. We found a lady bug in his hair when he was drying off.