MARCH/APRIL

Here's what we've been up to these last couple of months:

First, we had our annual BIG BIRTHDAY BASH for Carson (8), Tahirah (6) and Landon (2). Unfortunately, we didn't take very many pictures at the party. We took some short videos but for some reason I can't get them to load. Here is a picture of Landon wearing his favorite gift: COWBOY BOOTS!



Tahirah's kindergarten class presented their "Walking Report Card". She did very well. She really enjoys singing and has still been singing the songs she learned for the program part of the evening.



We stole an idea from my BIL and SIL. Once a week each of the kids have a night they get to stay up a half hour later and have some one-on-one time with Mom and Dad. It has been a lot of fun! The kids really look forward to "their night"! Here is Noah on his night. He wanted to build a fort.





Carson had a neat opportunity to hear two torch bearers from the SLC Winter Olympics talk about their experience in his class. They allowed each student to hold their actual torches they used in the Olympics. Pretty cool!



Here's Noah and Landon getting into Carson's cupcake he had left on the counter. That face of Noah's sums up his personality in one shot!




The most exciting thing that happened these last couple of months was Carson's baptism. He was baptized on April 9th. He had been looking forward to that day for a long time. It was a very neat experience.





We have also been doing some spring cleaning and getting ready to plant a garden. The kids love to help!



Since Carson is now eight he become a boy scout and had his first pinewood derby. He one 1st place in craftsmanship. Way to go Carson!



You may or may not have noticed Carson is not wearing glasses in any of these pictures. He had an eye appointment in March and the eye doctor told him he doesn't have to wear them anymore. His lazy eye has been fixed! Carson, of course, was thrilled! I had mixed feelings because he looked so cute in his glasses....but very exciting news nonetheless.

The Month of Love

Tahirah was so excited to make valentine's for her kindergarten class this year. She kept telling me how much fun she was having. She decided to make butterflies out of red hearts and gum (her favorite treat).

On Valentine's day I decided to try on the role of world's greatest mom and make heart shaped pancakes (with chocolate chips) for the kids with strawberries. Instead of telling me how wonderful I was, my kids pretty much just moaned and groaned about the festive breakfast. Landon was the only one that ate them. So, much for world's greatest mom. The funny thing is my kids still talk about them (positively) to their friends. Kids....


Dayv took a wedding picture and got a puzzle made out of it for my Valentine's gift. Very cute! I still need to try putting it together. He also got me valentine goodies and made sure he gave it to me on my "free day" (more on that later.) I put together a "Red Hot" gift bag for him. We went to a stake Valentine dance that night. I don't think we would have enjoyed it at all if Barber's (really good friends of ours) hadn't of come but we still left early and went to Village Inn.
Dayv's birthday was the 25th and I surprised him with a night away without the kids! I got a room at a bed & breakfast in Kamas (Woodland Farmhouse Inn). We went shopping at the Outlet stores and had dinner on main street. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be the best weekend to go because of a snow storm. We were ok until we tried driving to the B&B. I went into major panic mode until we were able to get behind a car and follow it for most of the way. The room was beautiful (I took the camera but never took pictures) and the breakfast was divine! And in the morning we drove home in the beautiful sunshine. We hope to go back again (just not in a snowstorm).

Here are a couple of more pictures we took in February. This next picture is my niece Chyanne watching 'Fiddler on the Roof' with Landon. Landon doesn't normally watch movies but he loved this one. Definitely didn't take after his Dad on that one but it made his mommy happy! :)

Landon has really started doing a lot more with the other kids. Carson and Tahirah both love to read to him.

So, all month I was involved in a "Healthy Challenge". I had to pay $15 to play and whoever got the most points won the $$$. You got 3 points for eating 3 healthy meals, 1 point for having 2 healthy snacks, 1 point for taking a multi-vitamin, 2 points for doing 30 min. of exercise, 1 point for drinking 2 liters of water, 2 points for no sugar, 1 point for no caffeine, and 1 point for having no food 2 hours before bed. Each week you got one free day (any day you wanted) where you didn't count points. So, there was 72 points possible each week. And guess what? I got ALL of my points!!! There were two other people tied with me last week and they haven't posted their points this week so I don't know if I'm still tied with them for 1st place. But I know I'll get something. Yay! I'm so glad it over. It really wasn't that hard but I hated tracking my water and exercising late at night when I didn't do it in the morning. I am hoping I'll keep at least some of the good healthy habits though!

Landon's Baby Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

JANUARY 2011 - Noah Turns FOUR!

So, after everything slows down after Christmas and New Years we begin the Birthday Mania. It starts with Noah's birthday on the 13th of January. He turned 4 this year! My mom is a cake decorator and one of my kid's favorite birthday traditions is deciding what theme they want their cake. This year Noah choose Army and even dressed the part. He was loving all the attention. He got a lot of fun toys and hasn't stopped playing with them everyday since.











In this last picture we were telling Noah to give my brother, Adam, a big kiss with his chocolaty face.

Hmmmmm......Let's try this again!

Again, I totally blame my absence on Facebook. Why spend all this time blogging when you can let the world know you just finished folding your laundry on your Facebook status? However, while making Landon's baby book, I found my blog to be extremely helpful in remembering details that have since become quite fuzzy in the last two years. So, here I am again!

My last REAL post was clear back in June. I talked about our July trip to Canada in November. So, here are a few missing pieces of the Van Orman's 2010:

While the kids and I were in Canada, Dayv did some remodeling. Here are the before and after pictures of the floors in our entryway and upstairs bathroom.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

The first Ron and Janelle Van Orman Family Reunion was held August 14, 2010. 7 of Dayv's 10 siblings were there. And the wife of one of the brothers that couldn't come was there along with their kids. We thought 9 out of 10 families represented plus parents was quite a good turnout! Mark Barber (good friend that took our family pictures in 2009) took pictures of everybody at Murray Park.



Dayv's brother Chris and family stayed with us while they were here. They are from Edmonton. The kids loved spending so much time with their cousins.

Carson started 2nd grade and Tahirah started kindergarten in September. Carson has Miss Kirsten and Tahirah as Mrs. Hillyard. They are both doing VERY well and love their teachers. I couldn't be any happier with their school.

We put our house up for sale in October and have had no interest whatsoever. Which doesn't bother me any but Dayv feels a little differently. One really great thing that came out of putting the house up for sale is we got a lot of unfinished projects done. We painted the living room, entryway, downstairs hallway and (the MOST exciting) the boys' bedroom - a project that has been going on for 4 years!!!







Halloween was fun for the kids, as usual! We had two army men, a monkey and Rapunzel. Rain really put a damper on the Trick or Treating but the kids survived.



We forgot our camera when we went up at my parent's house for Christmas :(

The kids are really growing up! Landon has also become quite the Daddy's boy. He goes to Daddy when he is hurt and pretty much hangs on to him from the moment he walks in the door from work.



Something else that happened last year that was not documented with photos is DAYV PASSED HIS STATE ELECTRICAL JOURNEYMAN'S TEST!!!! Since he is union, he still has school until August but we were THRILLED to say the least!


So, all in all 2010 was a pretty good year!!

LOOK! A New Post!

So, I'm finally back. I think I get my blogging out through facebook and haven't felt much like writing about it all on here. After much deliberation on whether or not I should just delete the blog I've decided to carry on! We'll start with June and July. And I'm not even going to try and put the pictures in order!

The kids and I (Dayv had to work) took a trip to see Dayv's family who lives in Canada for two weeks (June 22nd - July 5th). We rode with Dayv's sister Toni and her kids. The drive couldn't have gone better. The actual stay was.....hard to say the least! Dayv's parents had a flood in their basement right before we came. So we were pretty crammed (there were 15 people there!) Because of the rain (which was the cause of the flood) anytime you walked outside you were eaten alive by mosquitoes. So, naturally, nobody wanted to hang out outside. Not having Dayv there pretty much pushed me over the edge. The kids were ornery, I was ornery, just not a good combination.

During our stay we made a side trip up to Edmonton to see Dayv's brother and his family (including their newest addition Teagan). They took us to the HUMUNGO West Edmonton Mall which is the largest mall in N. America and the 5th largest in the world. We mostly hung out in the indoor waterpark which is the largest indoor waterpark in the world. The kids had a blast!

July 1st is Canada Day. Dayv's dad was put in charge of making the Rotary Club float. Toni came up with the whole idea and did a fabulous job!! Carson enjoyed riding on it during the parade.

During one of those days when we just needed to get out of the house we took the kids to Henderson Park. The play equipment was amazing! I wish they had parks like that here. My kids would play all day.

We also made a trip to Writing on Stone. A provincial park in Milk River. We had been there before as a family and the kids had just as much fun this time as they did before. First they get to climb around on the hoodoos and then they get to take a dip in the river and play in the sand.