BYU vs. Big Blue Football

Nate got us tickets to go see the BYU vs. Michigan football game in Ann Arbor.  It was an awesome game.  The Michigan fans are absolutely crazy!!  Basically the whole downtown was shut down for the game.  Cops everywhere directing hundreds and hundreds of pedestrians at busy intersections, tailgating for miles from the stadium with full on generators, TVs, barbecues, and alcohol.  These were big time fans!  So Nate and I walking up to the stadium in our BYU gear got lots of smirks, funny looks, and laughs.  They even had a sign out one of the tailgater's that said "Free shots for Mormons" and they invited us to come on down and take advantage of their offer.  It was crazy!!  There actually was a large amount of BYU fans.  Of course BYU fans cover the country, whereas Michigan fans are concentrated right in Michigan and surrounding areas.  So we met lots of BYU fans like us as well as saw a few people we knew from our college days.  

Unfortunately, BYU lost.  So we got out of there early and as quick as we could before the crowds became unbearable and overwhelming.  We hit IKEA on our way home and picked up the rest of the furniture and supplies needed for the new Simplx building.  It was a great date trip!  

Dawson's Birthday Party

Dawson is suddenly into dinosaurs.  He loves them!  He takes a dinosaur everywhere he goes.  He wants to wear his dinosaur shirts and he loves to read books about dinosaurs.  So his birthday cake also had to have a dinosaur theme.

We had a little party with Grandma & Grandpa and he opened up his gifts.  He got more dinosaur toys and a little balance bike.  He loves to ride it both inside and outside and he calls it his Birthday Bike.  Grandma in Utah sent him a build-a-bear gift card, so we went to get him a bear, and left the store with a stuffed dinosaur.  Go figure!

Happy Birthday big boy!! We love you so much!!

Happy Birthday Dawson!!!

Happy birthday Dawson. He is three years old today!! Here are some fun things about Dawson at three years old.

1. Dawson was just very recently potty trained. It took a while but now he's a champ. He is so proud that he can go potty just like all the other big kids around him.

2. Dawson loves to pretend. He likes to pretend to be animals set as cats and dinosaurs. He also loves the show curious George, and he will pretend to be short and act like George, which gets really silly.

3. Dawson adores his siblings. Jackson is so good with him at bedtime. Some nights Jaxton will read to Dawson in his bed and pray with him and tuck him in. It is sweet to see how much Dawson cares for his biggest brother and role model.

4. Dawson is way into dinosaurs these days. He loves dinosaurs. He brings his dinosaurs everywhere he goes. He will make them talk and play. He definitely prefers the cute nice toy dinosaurs over the scary T Rex dinosaurs.

5. Dustin's favorite thing in the kitchen is his warm milk, just as it was for all his siblings. He has to have a "bubble cup quote for his milk. The Cannot be old or bitten, but has to be new and clean. The milk temperature has to be just perfect. Then he will chug that milk down so fast! If his milk is not just right, often the tantrums arise.  More tantrums over milk then over anything else in his day. Got to have his milk!

6. Dawson is super goofy.  He tells us that he is "goofy like Cooper."  And he really is.  He loves to crack jokes, and he is only 3!.  His favorite word to joke around with is "bum."  He will call everything "Bum Bum."  He will say funny things like, "I eat markers," and then crack into a cute laughing fit.  He laughs at his own jokes, but he finds great satisfaction when others laugh at his jokes too.  It is darling.

7. His favorite TV show is by far Curious George.  He like it so much that sometimes he even begins to talk just like the monkey from the show.  He will use weird sounds to try to tell us what he wants, instead of words.  So we actually have been taking a break from that show and watching Caillou, which he equally loves.  But Caillou uses words for everything, so maybe he will try acting like Caillou.  :-)

8.  Dawson's favorite breakfast is oatmeal with chocolate chips. He also loves honey cheerios.  He likes all kid food and is a messy boy eater.  But he's an excellent eater.  Some nights he will eat more than all the kids combined.

9.  Dawson's favorite color is yellow.  He loves to play the acorn board game.  And he loves his duplo legos.  He enjoys books too.  One thing he kind of dislikes is his dog Bella.  He does not like her to go under his bed and gets really mad when she comes into his room.  He doesn't like her on the couch next to him either.

10.  Lastly, Dawson is a curious little three year old.  He will discover something interesting like the bathroom water faucet will spray when you cover the spicket, and so he will spray the entire  bathroom including himself.  Then he gets to practice drying everything off.  :-)  He will get really quiet playing with the dog's canned food, and I find him building a tall tower out of cans.  One time he discovered that marker showed up really well on the white couches we have and he made a nice design on those, that he also had to practice cleaning up.  I love this age so much.  It is challenging, but at the same time it is so much fun to see him learn new things each and every day!

Happy Birthday Dawson!!  We love you so very much!

Preschool Fire Station Field Trip

The Appropriate for September 11th, we took the preschoolers to the local fire station.  It was a hit!  The fireman that gave us the tour was excellent.  He let the kids in and out of several firetrucks at least 3 times and he showed us their sleeping quarters and lots of different equipment.  They got to hear the sirens on the trucks and the sirens in the building.  They also got to put their feet into the giant fireman boots.  It was exciting for all!  

First Day of School!

Here are the first day of school photos!!

Jaxton is a third grader in Michal and Suzy's class in the green farmhouse at Oak Farm.

Cooper is a second grader in the Red Barn with Meghan and Lori.

Kaylee is a pre K Primary student with Nancy and Julie in Primary 2 at Oak Farm this year.  She goes half day every day and is so very excited and ready for school!  She can hardly wait!

Dawson is a pre-schooler in a co-op joy school group.  He is equally excited to go just like all his big brothers and sister!

Indianapolis Temple Open House

We are so privileged to have a new temple in Indiana. The Indianapolis temple had its open house this summer.  We were able to attend the open house with many of Nate's family. The temple is beautiful inside. It was fun for the kids to go inside and see what it looks like in there. They particularly liked the baptismal font with the 12 oxen. We had to wear plastic disposable booties so we would not soil the new carpet with our street shoes. Dawson was very hesitant to wear them but when the volunteer boy suggested that they were space boots then he agreed to put them on. We enjoyed being together as a family at the temple. What a beautiful symbol of our testimonies.

Grandpa Hutchinson's visit

Grandpa Hutchinson had more work in Fort Wayne!  So he came out to stay with us for a whole 2 weeks!  His work was an hour commute, but for him it was worth it to stay with us, which we thoroughly enjoyed!  He got to spend time with each of the kids individually.  Dawson, he took to ice cream.  Cooper, he took hiking and on walks with Bella.  Jaxton, he took on a scouts hike and then on a trip to get "lost" and use the GPS to find their way home.  They got all the way into Ohio, which was super fun for Jax!  

We went to a Tin Caps Baseball game with Grandpa too.  That was memorable and lots of fun!  We love you grandpa and can't wait for your next "work trip!"

Summertime

Summertime is always so exciting when it comes.  School's out and all the fun begins.  We had to work in mommy's work schedule, and some minor "schoolwork" for the kids as well as chores.  But then of course there is time for play and going places.  We loved going to science central.  We also enjoyed Matea Park beach where the kids could swim  and play in the sand.  We spent time at the library, which the kids love, especially the downtown library.  We had playdates and friends over a lot.  We read books together, and watched movies together.  We went swimming a lot at the YMCA both outdoors and indoors.  We also took some fun bike rides around.  That was so much fun!  We also spent a lot of time outside at home, riding bikes on our long driveway and playing in our blow up pool.  It has been a fun fun summer!

Nauvoo Pageant

We went on a quick trip to Nauvoo with our family and Jared.  We'd never been before, so it was pretty fun.  We were late in booking a place to stay, so the only vacation rental available pretty much was a mile or so away from downtown Nauvoo right on the  Mississippi River.  When we got there, we could not believe this little gem.  It looked just like a storybook house from Snow White.  The inside had been all remodeled and was so neat.  The walls, doors, and windows inside and out looked like they were from a storybook. Even the bathroom was so quaint and fun that we couldn't help but have to try out the old fashioned bathtub.  It was too big for our group and we wished we could spend more time there.  But now we know, and next time we can book that same little house.

Before the Nauvoo pageant they had a fair.  They had all kinds of fun pioneer games for the kids and activities from the time the pioneers were in Nauvoo.  The kids enjoyed that.  Nate and I got to pull all the 4 big kids in a real handcart, just as our Martin Handcart company ancestors had done.  That was a neat experience.  

When the pageant finally began, everyone was pretty exhausted.  Jaxton was getting mosquito bites all over his body.  And the other 4 kids all fell asleep during the pageant.  Nonetheless, it was a fun experience.  I'm glad we got to go.  It would be really neat to be in the pageant someday and join the family cast.  

The next morning we visited the Nauvoo temple before heading home.  It was beautiful!

Lego Robotics Camp

Jaxton went to a Lego robotics camp at science center museum. He loved every minute of it. They got a base robot called and EV3 and they added on with Legos to make it look however they wanted. Jackson had one teammates to work with all week.  They named their robot the battle bot.

They got to program different features to their robot. The tournament ring was to have a white ring around the outside of a black circle. So Jaxton and his teammate programmed the robot two cents the color white.if it sensed the color white it would back up and turn around to go a different direction. This would avoid the robot from falling off the tournament ring. They programmed other features such as speed and pressure when it came into contact with something they programmed the amount of force it would use against the opponent.  

At the end of the week they were able to compete to robots at a time. It was a full on tournament. Jackson's robot made it through three brackets of the tournament before another robot beat him on the last two brackets. After the tournament the kids robots got to attack the teacher robot one teacher robot to eight attacking robots.  It was so much fun to watch. It was even more fun to see Jaxton so proud and totally in his element.

Happy Birthday Nathan

Nathan is One Year's Old.  Here are some fun things about Nathan at his 1 Year Mark:

1.  Nathan loves oatmeal mixed with bananas.  He doesn't prefer to be fed with a spoon.  Rather, he prefers to eat a bowl of oatmeal himself.  If I try to feed him, often he will shake his head and wave his arms as he hits the bowl and makes it all go flying all over the place.  Instead, if I give him the bowl and spoon on his tray, he will eat every last bite of oatmeal, some with the spoon, most without.  But that entire bowl will be eaten, minus the handfuls that land in his lap or on his belly or wiped in his hair.  After this adventure he usually has to be stripped and sprayed off in the kitchen sink before getting dressed for the day.  So cute!

2.  Nathan is a climber.  He is a risk taker.  He climbs up on the fireplaces and digs inside the fireplace.  He loves to climb the stairs.  He will look at me, knowingly that I disapprove, and up he will go as fast as he can till I catch him.  I had to lower the crib once and I need to again because he, of all the kids, might be the one to climb out.  

3.  Nathan has a funny raspy voice sometimes.  He will make these raspy sighs that are just so darn cute.  It makes me wonder if he will have a raspy voice for real someday.  He also has a grunt grumble he makes too.  He makes the funniest noises.  His screams are the most piercing loud screams you've ever heard.  The worst is when he does one of his screams in the middle of church.  That would make one turn their head.

4. Nathan has so many little protectors.  Dawson especially is out to protect his little bro.  He will alert me when Nathan is headed up the stairs or if he is climbing somewhere or headed in to play in the potty.  He's like my little Nathan Alarm.  Kaylee loves him to pieces.  She plays with him and he loves her attention.  Jaxton loves to set him up at the piano with him and they play piano together.  It is awfully sweet.  Cooper is always so helpful to him and helps to move him away from danger and set up gates for him to be safe.  

5. Nathan is crawling very fast.  He is so close to walking it will be days before he's doing it.  But for now, we can hand him a toy he is interested in and he will stand there holding the toy with both hands, not realizing he is standing and balancing.  Once he realizes he is standing, he will lose his confidence and squat down to the ground.  All he needs is a little confidence and he will be off!

6. Nathan has a sound he makes a lot. It sounds a lot like "yeahhhhh". It almost sounds like he is saying yeah to something. It is the sweetest sound.  I don't want to ever forget that cute voice. He also can say "mama" and "dada" and he says "bah!" whenever he's talking about Bella the dog.

7. When Nathan goes to sleep at night he is so sweet and usually always predictable. He drinks his milk while I rock him. Then he takes that pacifier and his blanket and he snuggles up in fetal position on his side in his crib. He just gets cozy right when I put him down. And he lets me walk on out and close the door. He is such a good sleeper. I hope he keeps it up!

8. Nathan loves pushing his bike around outside. He loves to push it across the driveway and then will get stuck at the edge and not be able to turn around. So we turn him around and off he goes until he gets stuck on the other side of the driveway.   He loves to be outside and he loves bikes.

9. Nathan loves water. He lives for bathtime! Whenever he has an opportunity to play in a faucet, a sink, a bathtub, or even the dogs water dish, he will find that water and make a splash.  He climbs up to our tub and turns the water on and gets everything wet including himself. The other day he actually climbed into the kids bathtub upstairs and managed to get the water turned on a small trickle. So of course he had to take a nice long messy drink from the water in the tub and in the process got himself soaked. He knows he is not supposed to touch the dogs water dish, so he will look at me and then bolt to the water dish. He will look at me again and put his hand in when he sees me running after him. What a little stinker.  In the pool he has no fear. He sticks his face in the water and laughs. He also makes a funny face when I bob him underwater. But he doesn't mind it at all. If he had his way he would let go of me and just go swim.

10. My Nathan loves to give hugs. Especially in the morning when he wakes up, and we get him out of bed, he just snuggles. He lays his head down on our shoulder and just gives love. It is so sweet. It melts my heart and I find so much Joy in my baby boy.

Happy Birthday Little One!

Nathan's First Birthday

Nathan is One!  I can hardly believe it!!  Our little guy is growing up way too fast.  We celebrated with Melissa and John and Nate's mom & dad in Noblesville at Melissa & John's house.  Madison used her cake decorating skills to make a cake for Nathan that resembled Bella.  He loves Bella and all dogs.  We sang to him and he got to dig into that cake.  He wasn't sure what to do with it.  He dug his fingers into the sticky frosting and the crumbly cake and just started shaking his hands in the air to shake off all the goo.  So it went flying everywhere!  Some did get into his mouth, but more than eating it, he was interested in the texture, the feel, and they way he could shake it all over the place.  Cute boy!  He got a little kiddie pool from us and some new shoes to start walking around in.  Grandma got him a standing toy with gears that spin.  He will love it.  Happy Birthday Little Nathan!