Preschool has begun!

Miss Care Bear started preschool today and she could not be happier! We are doing a modified Joy School where we take turns at 6 different homes and each of the Mom's in the group take turns teaching. The lady who put our group together is very on top of things and has done the same thing with her other kids so I know the group will succeed. The best part about it, is it is free this way!

When I picked her up she was so excited and could not quit talking! She did "homework" all afternoon and claims she can now read like La-La and Jaco. Lunch is included for the kiddos. Care Bear has NEVER eaten a PB&J not because she can't but because she won't. I debated whether to tell this to the other mom's but decided not to hoping that maybe she would eat one for someone else. Guess what? That is exactly what happened today! At first she told her teacher she didn't like PB sandwiches but when nothing else was offered she gave in, ate it, and best of all said she liked it! That right there made her first day a complete success in my book!

Happy Birthday Brandon!!

Today is my big bro Brandon's birthday. What can I say about him? Lots! Brandon is a really cool dude but is known to get a little loud. He is the most understanding and patient guy around and does not speak bad of others. He has a ton of drive and determination and keeps going until the job is done. He is also one of the hardest working people I know. Now are you ready for some memories?

Brandon is about 17 months older than me so of course I always had crushes on his friends. In return he thought it was cool to beat me up in front of his friends.

One time when I was 6 or 7, he and I decided to steal a ton of gum from the grocery store. We LOADED our pockets with those little 5 piece Wrigley packs. Mom noticed our buldging pockets after we left the store but she had to go to a different store before she could take us back to tell the manager what we had done. She had us put all the gum in the front of the van and then she left Brandon and I in the van while she went into the other store. But, she left us with the gum! So I sneaked some back into my pocket. Brandon swears that when we went back to the scene of the crime, that I wouldn't say anything so he had to do all the apologizing for both of us.

Brandon was known to take the rap for things he hadn't done. He was not the most obedient of us Finch's so we would convince him that Mom and Dad would believe him the most if he confessed to the wrong doing. I remember one time when a piece of cake went missing and nobody else could have any until the culprit came forward. We talked him into admitting to the crime even though he swore it wasn't him. Then if I remember correctly we sneaked him a piece since his punishment was no cake.

When he was younger he had a few sticky fingers especially at the candy store on 1st street. We didn't dare steal so we would get him to steal for us. I really do feel bad about that now. Sorry Brandon!

We would play war, kick the can, and cops and robbers all over our neighborhood. That was back when it was safe to let kids roam unsupervised. I miss those times.

He loved to blow things up. You could always find bottle rockets, fire crackers, and other explosive devices buried in his dresser drawers. One time he blew up a toilet with a dry ice bomb. That one didn't go over too well with the neighbors.

We would "smoke" dry pine needles wrapped in paper or stuffed in those green hollow reed plants that grew at our family cabin. We thought we were so cool!

Brandon served his mission in Louisville Kentucky. I remember talking to him on the phone and he asked me out on a date. I reminded him that I was his sister and that we couldn't date and his reply was that people in Kentucky didn't mind dating siblings.

I am married to Brandon's wife's brother.

La-La and Care Bear get nervous around Uncle Brandon because he gets a little too loud and hyper for their taste. They talk about how the next time they see him, they will try not to be scared. La-La will tell Care Bear that he is not being mean, he is having fun but is just loud.

Happy Birthday Brandon! You are an amazing person and your wife and kids are so lucky to have you around! Love Ya!!

Wake-Up call @ 6:30 a.m.

Yes, it is that time of year again. I am happy to have the kids back in school but can I tell you how much I hate the 6:30 alarm that goes with the school schedule! We have to leave the house to catch the bus at 7:10. YUCK! I am so not a morning person! I like staying up late at night when the house is quiet and I can do what I want but I regret it almost every morning.




Jaco started 5th grade today. This will be his last year of elementary school. He is now big man on campus even though he is not exactly big. (-: He is excited to play the violin again and to improve his computer skills now that he gets time in the computer lab. He wants to improve his handwriting skills and make more friends.

La-La is now in 1st grade! She is planning to learn to read better but is not liking the idea of daily homework. She likes her new teacher but wishes she would smile more. She said Mrs D is really nice and kind but just doesn't smile. Her favorite part of today was lunch. They had turkey wraps that she said was soooo good! Funny girl.

Happy Birthday ART!

Today is my oldest brother Art's birthday! Art is a Major in the US Army and has been on active duty for the last 8+ years. He is the only psychologist to complete the US Army's Ranger School. He earned a PHD in Psychology from BYU. He is married and has two kids, a girl and a boy and they live too far away on the east coast.

Now for some memories!

Art loved music and played the electric guitar. I remember listening to him practice and watching him use the guitar picks. I loved those little triangles! I remember one night when my parents were out of town and he practiced La Bamba late into the night.

He worked at Mike's Music and bought me a Zildjian T-Shirt that I thought was so cool! It was turquoise with hot pink writing.

He was challenged to earn EVERY Scout merit badge and he did it!

He served his mission in Las Vegas.

Art is not afraid to stand up for what he believes.

He got really mad at me for calling him Artie Fartie.

Happy Birthday Art! I hope you have a fabulous day!!

Party Time! (again...)

Final friend party...FINALLY! It was a little crazy to have all 3 kid's parties in less than 6 weeks but now I won't be doing it again for three years! Plus I read a friend's blog and she had 5 parties for her kids in ONE week!!

La-La had her turn yesterday to have her friend Birthday party! She has spent a big chunk of time this summer collecting bugs so we decided to have a bug themed party. I tried to convince her to invite boys and girls but she wanted girls only. I guess it starts young!

We sent out invites, bought supplies from Oriental Trading, made a pinata and waited for the day to come.

First on the party agenda was to make lady bug apples. I cut red apples in half and the girls put chocolate chips on with frosting for the spots and black licorice for the antenna. I bought mini chips but we should have used regular size. Oh well, the girls had fun and even ate their apples a little. (:

After the apples, we cleaned up and then made a bigger mess decorating bug catcher kits. Oriental Trading suggested buying their glue dots to complete the craft but I didn't and wished I had of when we realized neither white glue or glue sticks worked very well. Once again, oh well, everyone had fun trying!Care Bear, Camdyn, Daisy, Taylor, Justice, Zoe, La-La, Paige

Then we went on a bug hunt. Jaco had hid a bunch of plastic bugs to find and La-La even found a real spider!

Present time next! La-La got lip gloss, two art kits, Baby-in-my Pocket, Littlest Pet Shop, and some bubbles and other little gadgets. She was very happy about everything!

Time to make another mess! Instead of cake we had Dirt Dessert. Yum Yum! We attempted to make flowers out of taffy and Star-bursts but most of the girls just dug into the chocolate mess with as many gummy worms as they could fit in their cups!

Finally we did the Lady Bug Pinata. La-La really wanted one but I didn't want to spend the money to buy it so a large balloon, glue mixed with water and newspaper strips did the trick! We added some paint and a lady bug was born. I tried to make a handle to hang it from but it ripped with the weight of the goodies so the girls just threw him on the ground to get it to break open. It worked and everyone collected their treats.Bug party was a success as everyone went home happy and full of sugar!

Happy Birthday La-La!

My little girl is getting bigger and bigger and is now officially 7 years old but she would like to think she is closer to 17! The other day she said to me that she thinks she is really older than we say she is because she has a "boyfriend", loves jewelry, and other big girl things so she must be older. La-La is such a funny girl! She reminds me of myself because she LOVES jewelry and getting all dolled up but she is also such a Tom-Boy. If there is a tree she will try to climb it, if there is a puddle she has to jump in it, and if it is alive she wants to hold it; from babies to snakes. I was the same way at her age. In fact when I was a scrawny 11 year old, I went on a 3 day hike through the Sawtooth mountains with my dad and two of my brothers. I even carried my own pack for some of the hike. I also loved to go repelling with the boys.

La-La has been so excited for today. It just kills her to have to wait for everyone else to have their birthday's before her. She could hardly go to sleep last night and woke up as happy as could be today. She opened her gifts this morning before Daddy went to work. Her favorite presents were some Baby Alive accessories and a watch from Granny and Papa. After lunch we went to an Ice-Cream social at church for Relief Society. Then she had a friend over for the afternoon. We met Daddy at Applebee's for dinner where she was so excited to have the waitresses sing to her. Then it was time for cake and ice-cream. It was kind of a quiet day but she had fun and is thrilled to be one year older. Happy Birthday Miss La-La! I love you!


Enjoying her free dessert from Applebee's!

The cake she chose! Simple but sweet.

My big girl looking so grown-up!

Rainie Falls

We went on a family hike yesterday afternoon. Some of the pictures will look familiar as we did the same hike last October!At the end of the hike are some small but fast waterfalls. Around this time of year the Salmon migrate upstream and if you are lucky you can see them attempt to jump UP the falls. Last year we missed the fish but this year we were rewarded for our efforts! The first fish we saw was HUGE and a beautiful pink. Hoping to catch one on camera I sat as still as I could with my camera ready to go. The giant fish never reappeared but several of it's travel companions showed off for us. It was so cool to watch!

This was the first hike we went on that Care Bear did not have the luxury of riding in a carrier on Daddy's shoulders. She did really well until she tripped a few times and landed with her knees on rough rocks. Towards the end she kept complaining that her leg hurt and she was limping. I was afraid she had really bruised her knee but when we got home I realized her socks had slipped down and she had a big blister on her heel from her shoe. Jaco and La-La did their fair share of complaining but I have decided it just wouldn't be a family hike if everyone was happy the whole time! They did have fun especially at the falls where they attempted to build a dam and while playing in the water. Round trip the hike is 4 miles long so for little legs that is quite a distance!


Beautiful crane in flight!
Crane scanning the moving waters hoping for a fishy dinner!

Jaco busy collecting rocks to build his dam.
I know this picture is not in focus but it shows how crazy Miss Care Bear is on a regular basis.

La-La posed for me at the beginning of the hike. I love how beautiful she is with filthy fingers! She is such a girly girl but can and does get dirtier than any boy I have met.
Cody was pretty tuckered out and had a hard time finding a comfortable spot on the hard rocks.
Family shot! Like Cody's rear-end?

My Baby is 4!

I can not believe my youngest child is so old! Where have the last four years gone? Care Bear was born just 2 months after Justin started his medical residency. It was a crazy busy time for all of us but somehow she fit in to our family perfectly. I don't know what I would do without her! She makes us all laugh, has the absolute best smile, and is so full of life that nothing stops her, not even sleep! Her sleeping habits are slowly improving but she still wakes up screaming 3-4 times a week in the middle of the night. That is one part of her I wouldn't mind changing!

Care Bear woke up to the usual decorations provided by the Birthday Fairy. I think she opened her gifts in record time so Daddy could watch before he went to work. Her favorite gifts were a doll seat that hooks to the back of her bike so she can take her babies riding and a Barbie Girls MP3 player. All afternoon she rode her bike while singing out loud with her music player. She screamed and threw a huge fit when I took the music player away so she would go to sleep tonight.

We met several friends from church at the park this morning and at the last minute I decided to take her cake and ice-cream to the park to share with all our friends. The cake required almost 2 full mixes and I really did not want that much cake laying around!

Care Bear chose a cow cake and I think it turned out pretty cute!

We had fun playing at the park and Care Bear loved getting under-doggies on the swing, her favorite park toy.

We met Daddy at DQ for lunch. That is where the birthday girl wanted to eat so we willingly obliged! She decided she never wants to get an Artic Rush again because of the brain freeze head aches she kept getting.

Later this afternoon we went swimming in our neighbor's pool. Care Bear did not want to get in the water because she did not want to stop listening to her new MP3 player. Eventually she got in and had fun splashing and playing with several other kids.

The rest of Care Bear's day was spent eating pizza (her dinner choice) and listening to her music while riding her bike. I think she had a great day! I love my kid's birthday's and doing everything I can to make them feel special and loved. Happy Birthday Care Bear!!

Party Time!

We decided to have Care Bear's birthday party a little early so her cousin Alivia and Aunt Miranda could be there. So on Tuesday August 18 we had Care Bear's first friend party to celebrate her 4th birthday! Since she loves puzzles so much, we decided to have a puzzle party!

I made the invitations into a puzzle the guests had to assemble to find out the party details. We invited 7 friends; 2 boys and 5 girls. All the girls were able to come but both boys couldn't make it.

The party started with a round of duck duck goose and other preschool games.

Then we went on a puzzle piece hunt where the kids had to look for 25 hidden puzzle pieces and then assemble the puzzle together. Our neighbor has an 11 year old grand-daughter who was so sweet and helped at the party. She was so patient with the kids while they put the puzzle together.

By this time, Care Bear was dying to open her gifts. She got two play-dough sets, a High School Musical Barbie, some paints, and a Polly Pocket Doll. She loved everything!

Then it was time for cake and ice-cream. I decided to save my special cake for her actual birthday so for the party I just made a small round cake and cupcakes with puzzle pieces made from fondant. The kids were thrilled with the cupcakes!

While we waited for the parents to arrive, we colored puzzle pictures, ate popsicles because it was over 100 degrees, and played animal memory. Everyone had fun and Care Bear was very happy to have her first friend party! Aunt Miranda was a life saver and helped a ton in keeping a room full of preschoolers happy! Each of the guests got to take home a small backpack with a new puzzle inside, crayons, and a punch ball. Love the Dollar Store for party favors!

All the party animals: Raegen, Angelique, La-La, Cheyenne, Care Bear, Amelia, Anna, Alivia