THE PEARCE FAMILY: August 2008

Top Ten August 18th-23rd

10. Last week of Summer Jaxon is so excited and his mother is having a hard time dealing with the craziness
9. Two dollar Tuesdays at Thanksgiving point. The Dino Museum. Way to crowded to really enjoy. But the kids didn't seem to mind and that's what counts right?
8. Grin's Dealership has a Grand opening for there expansion. The family go and the kids had a ball winning Blaze paraphernalia.
7. We take the kids shopping at gateway and I get a new pair of Jeans yeah! the kids play in the water and have a ball
6. We grout my tile back splash and fall less in love with it:(
5. My mom and Dad have their 44?th anniversary that is sad that I don't know for sure anyway
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM and DAD we love you and your example to us!!
4. The top of Utah half marathon goes on without me the broken toe seemed to be to much of a setback
3. Grin Plays volleyball at trout and Berry Days
2. We go to Paradise for "Trout and Berry" Days spending Saturday morning visiting with old friends and enjoying the festivities it was so good to see them all.
1. We went cattail hunting and found some beauties

A Sunday Drive

I have been wanting to go cut cat-tails and put on my table. I have done it in years past but not for a long time and I love to have a vase of them this time of year. So on Saturday we went up to Paradise for Trout and berry days and I told Grinner I wanted to stop and pick some (they are all over along the road on your way into paradise.) Well we didn't have time before Grin had to be back for work so yesterday we decided to go for a Sunday drive and find some. Well we drove clear up through Morgan and back and didn't see any (at least not any we could get to) we looked at every river/lake/swamp we could find and about gave up but just as we were getting back on the freeway right on the side of the road there they were. We all got out (the kids were itching to get out of there seats by now)and the kids had a ball catching them as dad threw them up to them. These are just a few fun pics I took as they picked and now I have a beautiful bouquet of cattails on my table Yeah!! (note Ella had been sleeping so she wasn't very happy and her hair? well you will see) (note #2: Grin looks like a mountain man because we are going to a Rendezvous this weekend so he and the brother-in-laws are sporting the burly look. )

PROGRESS!!!

So I said that I would post pics of the kitchen when it was finished well I am not sure that it is ever going to be completely finished so here are some pics. It really is mostly done minus grout on the tile and some baseboard and curtains so anyway I thought I would post a new progress for those of you who are asking are you ever going to get done. (I am one of those people)

Top Ten July 27th-August 18th

Ok so this top ten is more becoming monthly. Hopefully when school gets back in I will have a better routine. It's a nice thought anyway

10. I take my sister in laws engagement pictures. I don't profess to be a pro but i think that there were a few that turned out pretty good.
9. One of my young woman offered to come babysit for Grin and I so we get a date and go see the new batman I highly recommend it. A little evil but amazing acting
8. We go to the garden's at thanksgiving point the kids had a ball. We are going to a different venue each tuesday this month for 2 buck tuesdays.
7. We have a birthday party for my sister and her husband their B-day's are in the same month so they have to tag team pink and brown decor a little for her and a little for him:)
6. Grin tiles the backsplash in the Kitchen I promise I will post pictures soon.
5. My Gavin gets bit by a horse. So sad since he loves them and now is a little afraid but I give him cudos for still going near them.
4. I take the kids to the barn at thanksgiving point. Gavin's dreams come true with a ride on a real horse.
3. We go swimming at the surf and swim and Ella doesn't even cry up to this point she cries for the first 45 minutes. We are making progress.
2. We start color in art class I am so excited!!
1. We have a big cousin's swim party at our house to celebrate Gregory and Kristy Lynn's birthdays the kids have a ball I love seeing all of the cousin's together 10 in all and one more to be added in March Yeah!!

My Cute Kids

So my friend Amanda told me about this great little photographer and so I was so sick and tired of the trips to target and the not so great photos that came out of it. I took the plung and spent a little more money and I was really pleased with the results. I can't afford to do it to often but well worth the money.

Gavin almost 3

Jaxon's 6 year Pics

Ella's 1 year pics

Half way through the year Grin changed Jobs. He still works for Ken Garff but is now the Used car manager at the Ken Garff Nissan dealership in Riverdale. He is loving the change and has started going to Auction to buy used cars. He is really enjoying this new aspect of the job and has had the opportunity to travel to Pennsylvania a few times to an exclusive Nissan Auction. He is now the 1st counselor in the Elders Corm and loves spending time playing with the kids and teaching them sports and watching as much sports as he can football, Basketball, Baseball, Golf, Hockey, Tennis, Poker, Soccer, (did I miss any) pingpong? if it is on Espn it is worth watching am I right?

As for me. It is pretty much same old same old. Clean house house the house by 10 am the next morning it is dirty again. I have Jaxon in joy school with the neighborhood kids and will be the teacher next month. We "remodeled" the storage room it started out putting some shelves in then I decided that we should put floor in, then we put in a water softener and a new water heater. My quick small project ended up a huge major project and cost way to much money but in the end my glasses come out of the dish washer clean for the first time and I am a little more organized which makes me happy. I got a new calling a few weeks ago and am now the primary chorister yikes never complain about your calling because it could always be worse. Teaching relief society was torture but at least it was only once a month now it is every week. The kids are a true joy though.

Jaxon started the 4th grade this fall and is doing amazing . He is crazy smart and can read at a 6-8th grade reading level. I gave him my old alarm clock after Grinner won me an Ihome and wakes himself up every morning. He gets up, gets dressed, makes his bed, unloads the dishwasher, reads and sometimes gets his piano done. This of course doesn't always happen smoothly but he does pretty good. We went to his SEP conference however and learned that he doesn't turn in his work that he does. He read probably 4 books that quarter at home and he had turned 1 in and it was the one I had read to him. My little brother was like that and almost didn't graduate because of it, what a nightmare we are working hard to rectify that situation as quickly as possible. He is playing on a competetion basketball team (The Davis Starts) and a comp baseball team (The Sox) and has practice or games almost everynight year round but he loves it and is always happy to go and willing to get his other jobs done to do it most of the time it makes for great leverage. He is getting so tall and before I turn around he will be taller than me. I bought size 10 pants for him for school last spring and we got them out for school and they are too short so he has been flooding around for months new pants "Merry Christmas Jaxon". It is so fun to watch him grow and develop into who he is going to be.

Gavin is now 6 years old! He is in Kindergarten and having a September birthday the oldest in his class. He is not "in love" with school but I don't have to convince him to go everyday either. He has discovered video games and I have had to spend a lot of my time monitoring how much time he has spent playing them. He still has middle child syndrome and you would think that I being a middle child myself would do better at making sure that doesn't happen but he still seems to be the kids that doesn't get his homework done and isn't reading as well as he should at no fault to his own but because mom seems to be running around after everything else. His sweet little personality I am afraid is reflecting this and he spends his life looking at the world with "the glass half EMPTY" I actually put a glass in front of him and asked him "Gavin, when you look at this glass what do you see, is it half full or half empty." his response, "half empty". I am praying that it is a 6 year old phase some of his friends moms say the same thing that the girls will cry in a drop of a hat etc. Gavin doesn't cry that quick but he lashes out yelling not nice things at us like "I hate you's" and "your the worste mom in the world" or this is the worst day ever" "stupid idiot" well you get the idea. I don't want this to be negative but want to write how he actually is so that someday we can read back and laugh at this funny faze our sweet Gavin went through right? On the switch side (it is kind of like living with Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde) he is the cutest big brother to Kennedi and to Ella most days to. But he will spend hours playing with Kennedi from the day she was born giving her kisses, and talking to her in baby talk. Now that she is 10 months he pushes her around the house on her push toy and sits around playing with her for hours kissing and loving her. He is truly the best baby sitter and my heart just leaps out of my chest when ever I watch him. He is going to be the best sweatest dad. My sisters little girl has been his favorite for ever now and I kept wondering if we would be as cute with his own sister as he has been with her but he is just as sweet and loving. How so much love and tenderness and hate and rage can come out of the same child in a matter of hours is beyond me but I am learning quickly that he just "feels" more than the rest of us and we will all adjust accordingly and search for ways for him to utilize that gift.

Ella is now 4 years old!! I was so excited when we found out that Ella was going to join our family I really needed a little more estrogen in this house full of boys and boy did we get it. There is no "tom boy" in our little Ella she is Girly Girl to the core. We have a trunk full of dress-ups in her room (however rarely are they "in the trunk") and a Mirror above it were she spends hours admiring herself and "possing" in front of it. Then she keeps asking things like. "Do I look beautiful in this mommy" or "am I more beautiful in this mommy", or "do I look cute or no?" of course the answer is alway "Yes Ella you look beauiful in everything". but she just keeps asking. We are constantly in a state of imaginary play, princesses and mommies, dances, and tea parties. She loves to dress up in moms shoes and wear princess dresses. She is constantly wanting a friend to play with and they will play house and pretend all day. I LOVE IT!!! it is such a great balance from the "lets wrestle, fight, shoot each other etc." we just eat her up. She is in preschool and loves it. she can write her name so well and knows every letter and its sound ( and has known them for over a year) and recognizes them all the time when we read. She loves to pier over my shoulder when Gavin and I read and she hurries and repeats the words after him like she is reading right along and truthfully she does about as good as he does. That's a girl for you right!

Kennedi Rose Pearce came into our family on February 11th 2011. She became the 3rd Hone Grandchild to be born on that day (strange). She has grown so fast and becoming such a fun and integral part of our little family. She has such a sweet demeanor and is always smiling at people. She is really quite the flirt and we spend most of our outings with people standing around talking about how cute she is and telling everyone around them things like. "Have you seen this baby", "come look at this baby", "She is the cutest thing, you have to see this baby", "look at those big blue eyes" While she just smiles and smiles like she is telling them "I know I am cute and you should all notice". It is really quite fun for me and Grin because we reallyh get a say in how they look or act right! She is crawling all over and getting into every thing she is a typical 10m old baby and we wouldn't trade her for the world.