THE PEARCE FAMILY: July 2009

"A sunday stroll"

My sister and her husband stayed the night on the fourth so we played hooky from church on Sunday and decided to go for a "nature walk" we headed to a place called Adam's canyon by our house. for some reason I thought that after the switch backs it was just a little rolling walk but I was wrong so as if it wasn't bad enough that I was feeling guilty for skipping church also found ourselves in a major hike sweating like crazy and taking breaks every few minutes to keep the kids going. Our nice "Sunday stroll" turned into something a little bit more. But we did have a great time spending time with each other and loving the beautiful world god gave us.

A 4TH OF JULY TO REMEMBER!

Our 4th of July this year was quite memorable. As tradition we go camping on the 4th usually with the boat. This year however Grin ended up having to work so we had to opt out of the Hone family camping. However a week before the 4th My Uncle passed away and so we headed to Sigurd Utah (my mom's home town) for the funeral on July 1st Grin did have that day off just not the weekend. So we decided to spend one night camping with the family. I am not sure about the one night camping idea it seems you pretty much do as much work for one night as for a week but the kids had a ball.

We quickly put Grin to work pitching the tent. I knew we had him around for a reason.

Gavin was quick to get into the camping mood so excited in fact that by the time I got to him his church pants were no longer tan but a nice dark color of dirt.

A walk down to the stream and the kids had a ball climbing on the fence.

We were also quick to put the kids to work. Ella was only too eager to carry her "new" camping chair.

More stream watching Ella and her cousin Edyn had a ball picking wild flowers!

Like I said before Ella was all to eager to try out the new camping chair she spent several minutes moving it around trying to find the perfect spot. She is getting too big!!

Jaxon wasted no time finding something to climb on we weren't out of the truck for 2 minutes before he had scaled this big rock near by. At least he listened and got his church clothes off first although a lot of good it did me he did his damage at the luncheon using his pants as a chocolate cake napkin, kids!!

The next day we headed home by the way of UBA Reservoir. Thinking we would take the afternoon and boat a little. Well it was pretty rainy and not that warm so the skiing was minimal the big success was Jaxon got out and "tried" to ski he actually did really well got up and went for a minute but I was just glad he tried. So after grin skied in the rain for a while and we ate lunch the kids played on the shore it really started to pour and we decided to call it a day and headed home so Grin could be to work early the next morning.

The rain comes and Jaxon starts a running

the best part of playing by the water is the rock collecting Gavin got himself quite the collection.

Little Ella hides from her brothers and cousins in a game of hide and seek. She was so darling counting and everything just like one of the big kids well almost 1, 2, 3, 18, 7, etc.

July 4th

On the 4th I ran a 10k in the Kayville 4th of July celebration. Grin didn't have to be to work until 10:00am so he brought the kids down and they cheered me across the finish line. I was really hoping there wouldn't be very many people and I might do good on time. I ended with a 9 minute mile which was good for me but placed 14th in my age group which tells us that I am far from in the ideal 30 year old in "good" shape.

Grin then Headed to work and the kids and I ventured the parade. I hate going to places like that on my own but I figured we shouldn't just stay home and stare at each other on the 4th and Jaxon wanted to go to the "water" portion of the parade. So we headed to a spot where are good friends the Murdock's were sitting and the kids had a ball running after candy, Frisbees, water bottles and other goodies. Jax caught a water bottle and we all got necklaces which most were broken before we made it home but whatever. As the water came me and the little ones back up but Jax went right into the street and a girl on one of the cars said "hi little kid" he looked up and she dumped a whole bucket of water on his head. He was in heaven.

This is an attempt for a "Pearce Kids photo" why do I try?

After the parade we headed home and both babies took naps. Yeah!! I almost got Jax to take one too you just can't run them around like we did the last few days and not have it wear on there little personalities they turn into monsters am I right? Anyway they slept and we got ready for dinner. Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark (they too got ousted on the camping trip due to work) came down and we had dinner and went to the fireworks. We had never been to Kaysville's fireworks but they were great fun and we had a blast.

So a crazy 4th of July long weekend but with all the craziness we still managed to have a pretty good time. Happy Birthday America!

Ella's first haircut!

The kids all needed hair cuts usually Grinner takes the boys but I took them all today and Ella got her first haircut and the boys both got haircuts. However the girl who did Jax and Ella's was a little crazy and well I had to take Jax back to get his fixed and Ella well thank goodness that it was just a trim and we can't notice as much the imperfections The stylist just kept saying "it might be a little crooked since she keeps moving" I mean really are you a professional or what.

Our first Boating of the summer!

So this crazy rain had prevented summer from really coming at our house as I am sure it has for all of you as well. A few weeks ago when we went to Bear Lake with Grin's family we tried to ski but to know avail. So finally on the 24th of June it was Grin's day off and the weather couldn't have been better so in spite of the cold waters we headed to Pineview and truthfully the water wasn't bad we got our nephew Zach up on ski's and attempted with Jaxon but believe it or not our dare devil had a case of the sacredy cats so we didn't get him to try maybe next time but we all had fun anyway. I just hate how out of shape I feel the first time I put on that ski yikes!!!

Jaxon win's Second place in the Baseball playoffs

Jaxon was a member of the New York Yankees in baseball this year. They did pretty good most games and in the end they ended up playing for the championship game. They did so good were ahead the whole game but in the last inning they made a few mistakes and the Rockies pulled ahead and ended up winning them by one point. So they took second but got a big trophy and we are so proud. Way to go Jax!!

Top Ten June 14th-July 5th

10. I teach another relief society lesson on "spiritual gifts" a tough one for me but I survived and then my favorite part the hours after where I know I don't have to worry about it for a month.
9. Grin and I celebrate our 9 year anniversary see post
8. Grin and I run the Ragnar relay 188 miles split between 12 people in 24 hours. See post
7. Jaxon plays in the playoffs for baseball and his team wins second placing loosing first by 1 point way to go Yankee's.
6. The weather finally permits and we get out on the lake for a beautiful day of boating.
5. I do little things windows for the "patriotic month ahead" see upcoming post
4. My uncle passes away and we head to Sigurd for a funeral. It is too bad that it takes a funeral to get us together with our family we love them all so and are praying for our Aunt LaRee.
3. We then go camping for a night with the Hone family and boating at Yuba see upcoming post.
2. We finally hit cherry hill for the first couple of times this summer and plan to keep going we love cherry hill.
1. Happy 4th of July I run in the 10k race in Kaysville take the kids without Grinner (who had to work) to the parade and our Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark come for dinner and we all head to the fireworks. see 4th of July post

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.