Beau and Cody December 2012 Christmas Break
Cody went with the Wright's up to the cabin to play in the snow. I'm so happy that they are such good friends.

Back in the day!

Look at these two! They were babies and they are growing up way too fast. I can't believe they will be in high school next year. Sure is making me feel old!! Cody and Kelsey have been such a blessing to our family...sure do love them.

On his way to Eagle

                                                  PaPa and Cody 8/15/2012
This handsome boy loves scouts! We are lucky because my dad is scout master in his ward so this summer went to Camp Geronimo with my dad and his troop on June 18-23 then had Sunday to rest get all his stuff cleaned up and then he left Monday morning at 4am for camp Raymond with his scout troop in our ward. He earned tons of merit badges and had a blast! A couple of nights ago he had his court of honor and advanced to a star. I'm so proud of all the hard work he has done so far to earn this. One of the merit badges he earned was cycling. This is not an easy one to get & one of the requirements is a 50 mile bike ride. He did it and when he came home I asked so how was it? Cody said hard and I'm happy because now I know I can do hard things. And, also I will never have to do that again:) I love this boy he makes my heart dance! Thanks to Mike, my dad and Cody's leaders for loving Cody and helping him achieve his goals. We are blessed!!

The Gang

These are some of Cody & Kelsey's friends that love to come over. It's funny because Kelsey will invite friends over & then all of a sudden Cody & his buds are over. They love playing tag or capture the flag

Cody's Party

This was the year to have a friend party so Cody wanted his at Bounce U! They had so much fun and got nice and sweaty and tired. Cody has a good group of friends from the ward & school. Kelsey & Mallory

Beau, Jayden, Kyle Chase & Adam

Brandon, Cody & Rhett
August 5th party- birthday on July 29th

Cody also got a fun candy bar poster from his Grandma, all the kiddos loved that & Cody had lots of candy to bribe his sister with.

10!!!

What do you want to do when you grow up? engineer

If you could go anywhere for a vacation where would you go? Hawaii

What's your favorite restaurant? Texas Roadhouse

What is your favorite candy bar? Crunch bar

What is your favorite soda? Root Beer

Who are your best friends? Beau and Kyle

Who are your best friends from school? Brandon & Adam (this was hard for Cody he said he was friends with everyone in his class)

What is your favorite color? Blue

What was your favorite thing you did this summer? Trip to Utah

What do you hope to get for your birthday? DS Game

I can't believe Cody is 10 they grow up way too fast! And I'm sure I blog this same thing last year but it really does go by fast! Cody is a sweet boy and we are blessed to have him in our family. We love you!

Happy Birthday Cody!!!

Brothers

I snapped this picture last night of my boys. They are such good friends. I was so worried about my kids age difference and that they wouldn’t be friends. These two are buddies! Cody is very patience with Carter and so loving with him. Whenever Cody has been gone (even just to go out and feed the animals) when Carter sees Cody he gets so excited and will say Hi Cody, did you know you are my best brother ever! It just melts my heart!! Cody has always been good with younger kids and he loves to play with babies. During the school year when I would watch Presley & Tess, I would love when the big kiddos would get home because Cody would always hold Tess for me or entertain the little ones. We love you Cody!

Yay for October!!

I love this time of year! A couple of weeks ago we were waiting at the bus stop & Cody said the same thing. He said I love how it's getting cooler (not really but hopefully soon!), it's going to be Halloween, putting fun decorations up & then it's Christmas. Then he said please mom can we help you decorate? I'm surprised I have not decorated yet, this is one of my favorite holiday!

I am sad about all my pictures I took in the last 2 weeks, I some how erased all my photos. My mom, Paige & I took Cody & Tatum to Disneyland for their birthdays. We also took Rhett & Chase along for the fun! So, as soon as I get some pictures from my mom I will hopefully post them. And, I will tell all about our very fun trip. We also had the going away party for the kiddos friends and those pictures were some that disappeared!

Paige, Emily & I have started to run in the mornings we are up to 4 1/2 miles. This might not seem like a big deal but we are not runners. In school I always walked the mile in p.e. It feels great to run and I still can't believe I'm enjoying it as much as I am.

Tatum is 7 today! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is so special to me because she made me an Aunt! Love that girlie!!!! Happy birthday Tater Tot! I wish I had a cute picture of that beauty to post.

Cody

What is your favorite food? Pizza

Who is your best friend? Jake & Beau

What is your favorite memory? My 9th birthday

What makes you laugh? Being tickled

What is your favorite movie? Star Wars II

What are you most afraid of? When I get scared at night.

What embarrasses you the most? Whenever someone sees me getting dressed.

What is your favorite music? Kids Bop

What makes you really angry? When people call me names.

What is your favorite activity after school? Playing with friends.

If you were the parent for the day, which rule would you get rid of? I would not have to feed the animals.

If you could change anything about 3rd grade what would it be? No homework!

What do you want to be when you grow up? Engineer

Do you think it would be harder to be a mom or a dad? Why? A mom because they have to have the babies & the kids always need or want her.

If you could have a magical power, what would it be? I would have all the powers!

What three things do you think you are good at? Building things, swimming & putting things together.

What is the best thing about being 9? Being older & I'm not going to let Kelsey boss me around any more.
Cody just told me he had the best birthday ever! The great thing is he said that last year & the before that. He got his first riffle from his Dad this year. He was very excited. It was funny while I was asking these questions to Cody, Kelsey was in the bathroom by the mud room. Half way through the questions she yelled from the bathroom ' Cody you know mom's putting this all on her blog'! AH the dreaded blog! He did change an answer once he heard that.
Love ya bud and happy you had such a super day!

HAppY bIRthDay!!!

Cody is 9 today and I still can't believe how fast they grow up! It feels like just yesterday that I was bringing him home from the hospital. He was such a sweet and happy baby. How could he not be he was loved on by everyone! Cody was the first Grandchild on both sides. Making me & Garrett's parents & siblings Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles. He was the one to make my Grandpa & Grandma Leffue Great Grandparents.
I'm always saying that I did everything wrong but now thinking back I don't care. I held him a lot and he never really slept in his crib. I remember trying to get house work done but still holding him. Crazy, I know & he can blame his sleeping problems on me when he's older. It's hard to put a snugly baby down well the first baby because no one else needs you!
Cody has always been a sweet boy and always thinking of others. All the little cousins love Cody because he's so nice and really loves playing with them. He's very polite and is always good about sharing. Yesterday he got a couple of cards in the mail for his birthday. After awhile he came in with a bunch of papers in his hand. He had wrote thank you notes for birthday money he got in the cards. It just melts my heart! Every night after dinner he tells me how much he loved the meal. Both Cody & Kelsey are always so grateful!
Cody went to Skate land for his birthday & then tonight we will go to his favorite restaurant for dinner. Can't forget presents,cake & ice cream afterwards!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CODY!
WE LOVE YOU!!!

What to do?

I really don't know what to do?
Sundays are always a very long hard day!
Carter and Kennedi like to get their own breakfast, snack or treat.
I'm really surprised I have not found them hanging from the chandelier!!!
And, I always thought Cody was tough!
Church has been hard. Today I just wanted to push everyone off me & scream.
I love that all my kiddos still love to snuggle but today I was hot and seriously at one point in sacrament meeting all four were laying on me or trying. I had Cody's head in my lap with Kennedi pretty much sitting on his head. Kelsey leaning on my arm & Carter playing horsey with my leg.
No one wanted Dad!!!
Mike is very helpful but some days like today they all wanted me.
My skirt got lifted up 3 times so all could see my pretty underwear.
Kennedi ripped the bow off my cute shoes & Carter yanked a charm right off of my necklace!
Don't even get me started on Sharing Time!
I do have one thing that was good. They love going to class so I got to enjoy the last hour.
I'm sure you are all sick of me whining. I just had to vent!
It's almost bedtime-YEE HAW!

Uncle of the year!

My kiddos have lots of Uncles and of course they are always promising to take them to do fun things! Well I keep telling Jack that he wins Uncle of the year!!! He took Cody, Tatum & Sydney to the movies a couple of weeks ago. Kelsey already had plans with a friend. Then the next week he took Cody to a Diamondback game and got him a cool hat. Thanks Jack for always being such a fun and awesome uncle. We love you!!!

Memory Lane Monday

The summer before I met Mike when Cody & I were living with my parents we took a trip back east. We went to go for the open house at the Nauvoo temple. Along the way we stopped at a couple other temples. The Nauvoo temple was so beautiful and it was such an amazing experience. Cody was only 2 1/2 at the time and after that trip any time he saw a temple or what he thought looked like a temple he would get so excited! That trip was so much fun my parents stayed in a hotel room in town close to temple with my grandparents. Us kids couldn't find a room close so we stayed in another town close by. We would go out to eat every night and one night went bowling. I have some cute pictures of that trip but I don't feel like looking for them. I wish I could remember more of that fun trip. I'm sure if I sat down with Bridget, Jack & Steven we could remember a lot more. I do remember that summer I was only home 5 days out of the whole month of June. I can't even imagine doing that now.

Project 52

Week 9
My blessing that I can't stop thinking about has to be the scriptures. I have really challenged myself this year to really understand them. I have been good about reading them but this year I have really started to study them. I already feel blessed because of it.
We as a family has started faithfully reading together every morning. Sure we have read before but it was always at the last minute read a few verses before family prayer or at breakfast while everyone eating. But, we finally have all got on board and are really doing good! It really amazes me how Cody & Kelsey can pronounce those very hard words and they are really improving on reading as well. I count this for their 15 min. reading time for school. I feel like our family has gotten stronger because of our great efforts. And, my day seems to go a little smoother. We started in January and I pray that we will keep this going in our house.

Double Stuffed

Cody had his first pinewood derby for boy scouts. He had a blast! Mike and him worked very hard and Cody did almost all the work himself. He drew out how he wanted his to look. He was very concerned about how it looked & he was very happy with it in the end. He named his car double stuffed & he placed 1st in his pack. Which wasn't to hard since it's him and one other boy but, he was thrilled and had no idea! Thanks Mom and Pam for coming and supporting Cody!

Love Notes

I got this sweet note from Cody a few days ago just out of the blue! And, got this cute package on Valentines day. It was funny it had two more boxes inside & every box had a note with something like 'almost there' or 'not just yet'. I love getting sweet things from my kiddos. I feel like the luckiest mom ever!

Memory Lane Monday

This is a picture of Cody kissing his cousin Tatum. When Cody & I lived with my parents we had a lot of quality time to spend with Tatum. Paige was still working at a salon in Scottsdale so we would get to watch her. Cody loved having her come over. After so much time together they acted more like brother and sister then cousins. I remember Cody would lay on the floor watching cartoons and Tatum would crawl over and smack his head and hurry off with a big grin! She loved when he gave her all his attention! They are still such great friends!

Memory Lane Monday!

Since the twins will be 3 this week, I have been going through a ton of pictures! Thank goodness for pictures it's sad because I can hardly remember anything after I had these two!! I could tell you exactly how I felt, what the weather was like & even what was on tv the day we brought Cody home from the hospital. But, ask me anything about the twins I will not be able to tell you much-it really makes me sad!!!
So back to Memory Lane Monday! Carter and Kennedi were around a month old in this cute picture. I had gone to get a shower and when I got out I couldn't find any of the kids! This is what I found! Cody & Kelsey had moved the babies bouncer seats with Carter & Kennedi in them into their room. They were playing house & had a kitchen table set up and just playing like they were mom & dad to Carter & Kennedi.
I think back at all the stuff we had Cody & Kelsey do. Mike & I would have to remind each other that they were kids too! What a blessing to have such wonderful little helpers & they were so willing.

I love Fall!

I have not blogged in awhile. Paige has had my camera since Saturday and it has all my birthday pictures on it! I watched Landon for her so she could go to California with her girls. Not a lot has been going on around here mostly stuff with the kiddos! I do love fall because it's so nice outside we have been spending a lot of time outside. I want to put a little sand in our play set and get it all cleaned up so it will be perfect for the kids to play on this winter! Cody and Kelsey have been out of school this whole week for fall break. They spent Sunday night at Frammy's house and then they left the next morning for a fun trip to California. They just got home this morning, we sure missed them around here! They went to the zoo and to Sea World they had a blast but I'm happy to have them home.

A long & fun day!

Paige has been out of town since Monday and my mom has been watching her kiddos. Yesterday we had a little party with all the cousins for Tatum's birthday! Today I gave my mom a break and had her drop them off at my house for some fun! We played a lot! Lots of silly games, dress up, bubbles & even outside. Just wondering if it's ever going to cool off here!!! So after a lot of fun I needed a break. I put on a movie and we had quite time and this is what happened. I thought that was such a cute picture. All the kiddos that usually take naps were out in about 20 minutes! When Cody & Kelsey got home I had 9 kiddos at my house. It was fun and Cody & Kelsey are such great helpers they really love playing with the little kids. I tell them all the time what great babysitters they will make.




I have really been loving my new calling as Cody's wolf leader. Tonight we were in charge of the skit at pack meeting and I was very impressed with our boys acting abilities. I never took a picture I think I was laughing too hard. It was a fun night!