HE'S ON HIS WAY

Ryan is finally en route back to the United States!!! YAY!!! He called Saturday to say after two days in an airport in Afghanistan he was now in Kuwait. This morning I got a call to inform me that he was headed to the plane to fly to Germany, then Baltimore, then Mississippi. By Monday night he should finally be back at Camp Shelby to do his demobilization and then he finally gets to come home!! We are so excited!! When we didn't hear from him for a couple of days Caellum told me that he was getting bombed again " and that's the 3rd time in a row" So when Ry called I let Cael know that dad wasn't getting bombed but was on a plane and his little face just lit up!! Dad has been gone for a long time and we're all getting anxious and excited to finally have him home. I'll update and post pictures when he finally makes it, which could be anywhere from 3 or 4 days to 2 weeks. I'm sure we'll find out the day before he flies home but it will be exciting no matter how much notice we have.

Zadek's 15 month stats

So, Zadek went in for his 15 month well baby visit today. I'm super glad to report that he was in fact well, after the fever that finally ended yesterday which he had for 4 days. To go along with that fever he also had a sore throat virus that apparently has been going around. The poor little guy was just miserable. But, alas, he is well and went to his appointment today for a round of shots that will produce another fever! YAY!! So his stats:

Height: 30 1/2 inches 31%

Weight: 22 lbs 7 oz 21%

Head: 68%

So other than his head, he is still our smallest baby. And he is tons and tons of fun!!

ALL ABOUT JAVIN

Javin also did soccer camp with Caellum this year. He is a really fast runner and he was playing with kids a lot older than him because he turned 8 the week of soccer camp and he was playing in the 8-10 year old bracket. I think it's good for him to be with older kids that know how to concentrate and it pushes him to try a little harder. He's getting to be a really good player and here he is with coach Lucy. She was great with him!

This was the end of camp ceremonies. He had been assigned to team Spain and so he's carrying his flag. Javin was working the robot while the music was blaring. He was about the only one who danced everyone else just ran through. Those of you who know Javin well will not be surprised by this. He just can't contain himself and must dance at every chance he can get.

JAVIN GOT BAPTIZED!!

With dad away Javin got the rare opportunity to choose amongst his many worthy uncles and grandpas to step in and baptize him. He ended up choosing Grandpa Dennis to baptize him and Papa "Grandpa Thompson" to confirm him. We were so lucky to be close to family and all of Javin's family, including great grandparents were able to attend. I should have thought and documented the event better but I was a little preoccupied with the Skype call that didn't end up working to Ryan and my little crazy 1 year old. I have been so grateful to be surrounded by so many worthy priesthood holders to be such great examples to my boys while there dad is gone. I really do appreciate all of the grandpas and uncles who love my boys and beat them up while there dad is away. I'm also grateful for wonderful grandmas and aunts and cousins.

I'm lucky to be a mom to such great kids!!

Summer Update

The Summer has been really fun and has gone by WAY too fast. I can't believe school is already starting. We went a lot of places, played really hard with cousins on both sides and had a ton of fun!!

I love that Zadek thinks the slide is to climb up!

Playing at the mall on our back to school outing with the Thompsons!

The Aquarium. Zadek climbed up by himself. He is just as big as his big brothers

Fall Soccer already started. It's crazy that we've already played 2 games of the season. Cael is also playing but I only had videos of him. I'll have to do more pictures as the season progresses. At his first game he scored 3 goals. Javin is old enough that he actually has ref's and they play by the rules. He's picking up positions well. He has lots of natural talent. Just like his dad.

My Sister came for a week this summer. It was fun to have her family here. We went to planet play and even grandpa had to get a game pass to play!!

Jessica was really nice to help the littler kids out.

All of the cousins!

The boys did the British Soccer Camp this summer. It was lots of fun and really good for them. Here's Cael chillin after camp in his crazy outfit of choice.

Coach Lee was Cael's coach. His age division of 4 year old's only had 3 kids so he got lots of one on one time.

Javin also did soccer camp and I have pictures on the other camera of him with his coach, Lucy. He learned a lot and had lots of fun as well.

JAVIN TURNED 8

With lots of family around and friends too there was a lot of partying to be had.

The combined party. It was also Nathan's and Jessica's birthday as well. We had the water slide up and did a massive combined party. I think that the kids love this tradition.

Grandma had just had knee surgery but that didn't stop her from coming to enjoy the festivities!

The Thompson party was equally fun. We had pizza and the water slide and fun times!

Opening presents and playing at the pinata with Liam

He decided to do a Mario party for this one and have brownies and ice cream!

I have never let Javin have a friend party before and I decided that turning 8 was kind of special so I let Javin have a party. I told him we could invite whomever he wanted thinking it would be a lot of kids but all he wanted was Emma and Paul. His two closest friends. We had a POKEMON party.

We played Pokemon games,

put up the slip and slide and went on a pokemon hunt in the back yard.

Javin doesn't like cake so he decided instead of a cake we should go to Orange Leaf. It was lots of fun

Then RANDOM PITURES of ZADEK

He's really into his sunglasses lately

We've been getting together with our cousins on the Thompson side of the family and the first time grandma got the water slide out I didn't bring a swimsuit for the little one because I thought he was scared of water. Turns out swimming in your clothes is just as fun too!!

His favorite place to be, the bathroom. He climbs on everything and gets into everything. He's LOTS of fun.

We've had a great summer. It's been really fun to be here close to family and the time has FLOWN by. We are excited to get back into the swing of school and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our other family member who should be leaving Afghanistan in about 20 days. It's getting CLOSE!!! YAY!!!

Random pictures

Cael being Cael. He was super excited to finally get a DS.

The baby was super tired and found his blanket under the table. He just couldn't wait for bedtime.

Javin and his fireworks. The 4th was really fun this year because they legalized a ton of fireworks and they were shooting off everywhere.

Zadek has an addiction to propel. He loves it!!!

The kid loves to ride in grandpa's truck!!

This was after pirate day. The kids did an adventure club this year and had tons of fun!! Everyday was a different theme. Cael was a little tired, can you tell?

Yes my boys do love music. I can't believe he's tall enough to play the piano but he thinks it's fun and we all have to clap and cheer when he finishes his concert.

This Is The Place Park

I remember as a kid going to this is the place monument. IT was a statue or two and that's about it. Now, it's a park and it's super fun. We rode on a train, panned for gold, and rode on ponies. The boys also made Indian Spearhead necklaces and Javin was fascinated by the Blacksmith. It was a really fun trip. Here are a few of the pictures !!

This little train ride went around a pond and looked over the valley. The view was amazing

The goats were really funny. They came running over to the kids and we almost couldn't leave because the goats were so fast at getting to the fences.

I thought it was funny when the kids got on the horses the first thing Javin asked was "are these real horses?" I know we've ridden on pony's before but I think the fact that they were tied up above their heads almost made it seem like a carousel

He's FINALLY walking

Zadek has been really close to walking for a long time now. He finally decided to let go and is now unstoppable. I'm so glad he finally figured it out.

EARLY RELEASE

We found out a week or so ago that Ryan will be coming home early!!! YEAH!!

He's scheduled to leave about September 10th and it usually takes at least a couple of weeks for him to fly back to the states and to demobilize. So by the time he actually gets back it will be around the 24th of Sept to the First of October. After that he should have about 20 days of pay available. We were originally talking about waiting for him to come home and then moving but have decided maybe it would be better to get the kids started in school in VA in September instead of moving them after 4 weeks. So, all of the original plans our gone and I'm on the hunt for a place to live. If I find something then we will move earlier but I'm sure we won't go until the end of the summer. This could still change depending on if we find somewhere that we like and if I decide to wait for Ryan to help me move the family. So I'll keep you all posted.

We're excited to finally have him home for good. It's been a long year and a half since he first left for Qatar.

Zadek's 12 month stats

So he's officially one year and that means more shots!!! Poor kids, can't we just leave them alone. He finally cut his 7th tooth on Sunday and is now feeling better and I take him to the Dr for 3 more shots. So, my biggest question this time was is he still going to be small. Because he seems huge and at his last appointment I had just switched him to formula and he was only in the 10th percentile on weight. So I wanted to know if he started growing faster because of the formula, plus he just seems humongous. Especially next to his little cousins. Drum roll please!!!

Height: 29.75 in 50%

Weight: 21lbs 7 oz 25%

Head: 47 cm 60% (although there was some speculation that this calculation was probably off a little because last time he was in the 25% as well and as we all know not every calculation is correct. At Zadek's two week appointment he was 2 inches shorter than when he was born)

So, yes he is small for his age group!! And, my smallest baby at this point! Even smaller than Javin was. However, Javin was 25% on weight but 90% on height so he just seemed littler. And of course Cael was 90% on everything!

My monster is actually a little on the small side. CRAZY!!

Zadek's Birthday

Living in Utah sure has it's perks if you're a birthday boy!!! So many people to love you and make a fuss over you! I'm sure glad we got to celebrate with everyone! Thank you so much for making his first birthday a great one

Party with the Parker Family

I loved this cake out of cupcakes. I was going to do the same type of cake for both parties but couldn't resist this one.

Opening presents was a little bit tricky at first but he soon got into the groove. And of course he had all of his cousins and brothers to help him.

While this wasn't the first cake of his life it certainly was the first that I've ever let him do by himself. At first he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. But he certainly got over that by the end. As you can see in the next picture.

By the end of the night he had just had way too much fun!! Good thing uncle Zane was around to let him veg with a toy for a little bit.

Party with the Thompson family!!

Grandma and Papa were nice enough to let us have Zadek's party at their house. We decided to make a dirt cake in a dump truck. Cael helped me pick out a construction hat pinata and another game.

We started the night roasting hot dogs followed by marshmallows. Of course there was a lot of jumping on the tramp and playing in the sand box as well. The kids love to play at grandmas. Even Zadek wanted his turn in the fire pit. I don't know if it's irresponsible to take this picture and then try to stop him from putting his hand in the fire or if I should have maybe just stopped him? Oh well it's a cute picture.

Zadek sure loves getting new toys and presents!! And his brothers sure love to help him open them.

This is a sucker from the pinata. I have to say it was the first one of his short little life. He really did love it!!!

And of course the famous cake pictures. Every one year old has to have one!!

As you can see not shy at all this time!! Although it did take him awhile to dig in because he was fascinated by the fork and gummy worm that were also on the plate.

Random pictures

Since it's been forever since I've posted on here I decided to just do a short post with some random pictures from the spring.

Spring means soccer, well so does fall in the house, but we had a fun spring soccer season!! Javin was one of the best goalies on his team. He is super competitive and just can't stand to have the other team score. He will sacrifice his body in order to stop that ball. He's also great at all of the positions but played goalie a lot because he pretty much stopped everything that came his way.

Cael actually had fun this season. The kid can run forever! He isn't as in there as some of the kids but it will come with practice. I loved going to his games just to watch everyone run with the ball in a cluster even when it went out of bounds. Cael is a great ball handler and had tons of fun.

This is just a random picture of everyone playing. Zadek just loves to play with his brothers and they are super good about his crawling all over them and getting into all of their things.

Gina brought these back from Florida and they were super excited to eat them.

We all went to Park City this year with Grandma and Grandpa. It snowed while we were up there so instead of walking main street and shopping at the outlets we ended up at the new bowling alley. It was the nicest bowling alley I've ever been to. Some of the kids got bored after a few tries but not Javin! He not only bowled for himself but ended up bowling for a couple of the other kids as well.

Cael had a really great time in preschool this year. On the last day of school they had a circus party and their teacher dressed up like a clown and painted every one's faces. He says it was tons of fun and they even got to eat ice cream.

While he isn't walking on his own yet, Zadek sure loves to walk along all of the furniture and is always using things as walkers to walk across the house. He loves laundry days so he can push the laundry baskets all around. Now, he uses his dump truck and pushes it everywhere. I'm pretty sure he could walk by himself but he's just taking his time. Once he actually lets go he'll be unstoppable